Top Data Center Trends for 2025

Fiber deployment methods are continuously evolving to meet customer needs. Very Small Form Factor (VSFF) connectors, such as MMC and SN-MT, offer three times the density of traditional fiber connectors and are likely to become the preferred choice for faster deployment.  

With this increase in fiber, both horizontal and vertical cable management must be carefully considered. We are observing a shift from high-count trunk cables to more manageable 144/288 trunk cables to reduce the space and weight needed on ladder racks. Additionally, we expect operators to explore similar options for vertical cable management inside racks due to the large number of connections needed for higher speeds.

With the ever-changing landscape impacting where to build new data centers, operators need high-fiber connectors available globally to enable faster deployment of cloud and hyperscale facilities. 

However, tight supply chains continue to pose challenges with the availability of the right connector at the right time. 

The latest annual electricity report from the International Energy Agency revealed that data centers consumed 460 TWh in 2022 and could rise to more than 1,000 TWh by 2026. 

The scale of electricity demanded by data centers has created capacity constraints on both the distribution and transmission networks in the regions where data centers reside. This will lead to more distributed buildouts closer to high-density end-user locations and areas where power is available versus large cluster buildouts that dominated the last decade.  

To tackle the power crisis, new innovators in energy-intensive tasks such as cooling will continue to evolve. The broader adoption of direct-to-chip and immersion cooling methods will continue to expand, helping operators enhance power efficiency and manage demand growth more effectively

Localized growth in data, population and 5G delivery demand is currently outpacing growth of data center capacity. This suggests that aggressive building initiatives are needed if data center capacity is to keep pace with the population, as well as the demand for more data. Expanding existing data centers is generally easier, but this often leads to power shortages.

Where should new data centers be built? According to residents near existing or planned sites, the answer is “not in my backyard.” Many locals have raised concerns about the noise and proximity of large diesel storage tanks. These issues have persisted for many years and have even led to legal action. One such case in France resulted in the revocation of a data center provider’s operating license after the $150 million facility was built. 

Kickstart Europe’s European Outlook Report revealed this tension was also evident in Frankfurt, Germany, where the city’s rapid growth in data center capacity—from 50MW to 150MW in just three years—prompted the municipal council to introduce the Frankfurt Data Centre Masterplan in June 2022. This plan aims to prevent development of new “data-center clusters” by changing urban planning rules to enable the strengthening of existing clusters while curbing further expansion.

Additionally, local citizen groups in the United States protested the building of data centers in Newark, NJ, Haymarket, VA, and Chandler, AZ—halting providers’ plans for expansion. It is important for data center developers to engage with the communities where they plan to build and communicate the benefits that data centers can offer the community. Building relationships with community leaders and supporting local initiatives and events could make a huge difference in building trust. 

When strategizing where to build and/or expand data center infrastructure, data sovereignty should also be considered since there are many such laws and regulations already in place. Organizations must account for local regulations and how they affect where data can be stored and processed. Incorporating flexibility and scalability into the physical infrastructure ensures support for future topologies and data rates for next-gen servers and switches.

According to U.S. Data Center Markets, JLL, an estimated 10 percent of data center roles at existing facilities are unfilled—more than twice the national average across all industries. Due to technical demands, only 15 percent of applicants meet the minimum job qualifications, causing open positions to take up to 60 days or more to fill. 

As the demand grows for AI in 2025, so does the demand for GPUs and faster network speeds—requiring denser deployments, more fiber and a higher demand of singlemode fibers located deeper within the data centers. These demands require a specific technical skillset that can be difficult to fill as quickly as needed. 

To help with faster deployment, a shift toward offloading complex rack buildouts to offsite integrators and then deploying pre-populated, complete racks at a faster buildout pace is anticipated. This practice will lessen the complexity in the field so that less technical expertise is needed at new distributed data center locations.

In addition, new products are being developed to tackle these deployment challenges. Smaller, multi-fiber connectors help address densification issues, while multi-gang connectors with over 100 fibers per single connection enhance the speed and efficiency of deployment. Consolidating connection points reduces the number of touchpoints and cabling congestion by using higher fiber count cables. 

As AI continues to drive the growth of data centers on a global scale, organizations with the infrastructure, labor and technology in place to support faster network speeds and GPUs are expected to thrive in 2025. Molex’s Fiber Optic Connectors and Adaptors are engineered to address the challenges data center owners and operators will face this year, while supporting data centers in the years to come. See how Molex’s Fiber Optic Solutions, including singlemode fibers, patch cables and trunk cables can help high-density data centers thrive in 2025 and beyond.