Issues of cost, future capacity requirements, and power availability are among the top concerns of data center operators, according to Uptime Institute’s 2025 Global Data Center Survey. The survey, now in its 15th year, polled operators on topics relating to digital infrastructure, such as resiliency, sustainability, staffing, cloud, and AI.

The top concerns cited by respondents include:

• Cost issues: 38% very concerned; 38% somewhat concerned
• Forecasting future data center capacity requirements: 36% very concerned; 35% somewhat concerned
• Improving energy performance for facilities equipment: 31% very; 36% somewhat
• Power availability: 36% very; 27% somewhat
• Supply chain disruptions: 26% very; 41% somewhat concerned

Data center outages declined slightly in 2025, with 50% of operators reporting at least one impactful outage at their facility in the past three years, down from 53% in 2024. Power issues accounted for 45% of such outages in 2025 to remain the top cause. The report notes that “these outages are most often associated with UPS issues.”

Other major causes of outages include: cooling issues (14%), network (11%), and IT systems/hardware and software (9%).

Additional survey findings state that:

• Enterprises continue to adopt hybrid IT strategies, but 45% of IT workloads still reside in corporate facilities.
• Staffing challenges persist in 2025, with nearly half (46%) of operators reporting difficulties finding qualified candidates, and 37% struggling to retain staff.

This report focused on responses from data center owners and operators, including job titles such as “senior executive, IT manager, IT operations staff, critical facilities manager, critical facilities operations staff, design engineer, and consultant.”

Learn more at the Uptime Institute.