Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, and Paris — the infamous FLAP that dominates the European data center market will continue to do so as growing tech economies, strict data sovereignty laws, and low latency thresholds continue to spur strong demand. Data center capacity has reached an all-time high with more than 2,000 MW of capacity now available in the FLAP, according to calculations by CBRE late last year.
London and Paris will always be critical exchange hubs for internet traffic between the U.S. and Europe. France’s position on the English Channel, Atlantic Ocean, and Mediterranean Sea makes it a crossroads for subsea cables moving internet traffic between continents. Amsterdam and Frankfurt’s inclusion as Tier I European markets is based on their attributes of serving as the gateway to mainland Europe and being one of the largest internet exchange points in the world, respectively.