Demand for AI-ready data centre capacity is accelerating across Europe, with emerging AI infrastructure providers securing record levels of capacity in the first half of 2026, according to CBRE research.

The firm said signings for AI-focused capacity reached 420 megawatts (MW) in the first half of 2026, up from 89MW in the same period in 2025.

Two thirds of the contracted capacity (66%) is set to be provided by data centre operators in the Nordic region.

Data centre providers are finding ways to satisfy their funding criteria with emerging AI infrastructure providers, known as neoclouds, a trend CBRE predicted would mark a significant shift in the investment climate from the caution that characterised the market just two years ago.

Andrew Jay, head of data centre solutions, Europe, at CBRE, said: “Neoclouds have emerged as viable occupiers who are taking capacity at scale in markets typically where lower-cost power is the norm.

“It is a sign that many data centre providers are increasingly comfortable with the ambitions of neocloud providers and the financial structures that can be used to satisfy the funders.”

A total of 685MW of colocation and hyperscaler self-build data centre supply was delivered across Europe in Q2 2026, almost treble the Q1 total. Of that, 136MW was in London, with the capital set to reach 249MW by the end of the year.

UK data centre demand is now converging on a limited pool of capacity. London accounts for 1,637MW (91%) of the UK’s total live capacity of 1,803MW, up from 81% in 2016, according to Savills.

Kevin Restivo, director, European data centre research, at CBRE, said: “The underlying demand for compute [computer processing power] is immense. Several neocloud companies have emerged with investment-grade customers, enabling them to secure capacity and support the growing requirements of AI workloads.

“As a result, we are seeing unprecedented growth in this segment with deployments in areas in parts of Europe where data centre development isn’t the norm.”

Take-up of 260MW in Q2 was virtually unchanged from Q1, although smaller markets represented a greater proportion of demand.

Frankfurt and London were the busiest markets, representing 21% and 19% of take-up respectively. Unlike Q1, when take-up in Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Dublin and the rest of Europe were roughly equal, markets other than the five largest accounted for 55% of continental European take-up in Q2.