Paris, October 1st – Data4, a leading European data center operator and investor, announces its contribution to a study led by France Datacenter, the French data center association, on the economic, social and environmental impacts of the DC sector.
Far from being limited to cloud giants such as AWS, Google or Microsoft, this dynamic sector, made up of private and colocation data centers, is enjoying impressive growth and making a significant contribution to the vitality of local authorities and the French economy more generally.
With 28,000 direct jobs, 94% of which are permanent, the sector offers stable and attractive career opportunities. The 6.5% annual increase in the number of jobs in the sector is testimony to its dynamism, far outstripping the national average. What’s more, each job in a data center generates significant added value, reaching 121,000 euros a year, outstripping key sectors such as the food industry (70,000 euros) or the automotive industry (89,000 euros).
“In France, data centers are now a crucial pillar of the country’s digitization. Since 2018, this industry has grown seven times faster than the national economy ! Of course, this amazing growth has generated remarkable benefits, and has raised awareness on our sector. The data center industry is not a mere player in the shadows anymore, but a real engine for economic growth and job creation”, explains Alexandre Delaval, Country Director of Data4 in France.
The rise of data centers : a pool of high-potential jobs and a social lift
The rapid development of digital infrastructures, particularly data centers, is creating a strong demand for specific skills. This dynamism is benefiting a wide range of professions, from account managers to electrical and HVAC engineers, as well as technicians and experts in data center operations. Faced with these developments, vocational training is taking on vital importance to enable professionals to specialize in ‘hosted’ environments and meet the growing demands of the sector.
At the same time, the rise of cloud and edge technologies, combined with the increasing complexity of local needs, is generating exponential growth for local networks of connected equipment. Demand, driven by local authorities and businesses, particularly in industry and agriculture, is mainly for the operation and maintenance of these networks. Added to this is the massive deployment of artificial intelligence, which will in turn require advanced skills and help to boost job creation in this field.
“Far from being a cliché, the data center industry does not just attract highly qualified profiles, Alexandre Delaval adds, it offers employees the opportunity to train and progress rapidly, whatever their initial level of education. In addition, every direct job in a data center generates 1.5 indirect and induced jobs, boosting the entire local economic fabric.”
A major economic impact
The French data center industry exploded in 2023, generating €3.4 billion in direct added value, representing impressive growth of 9.6%. This dynamism far outstrips national GDP growth (4%) and rivals the economic impact of key sectors such as sport and furniture. What’s more, this growth has generated €1.6 billion in indirect spin-offs, benefiting the transport, real-estate, telcos and IT sectors in particular. These figures testify to the growing importance of this industry to the French economy.
Although the Paris region is home to the most powerful data centers in France (over 80% of the total), contrary to popular belief, the data center industry is not exclusively concentrated there. Two-thirds of France’s data centers are located outside the Paris region.
Local authorities therefore have a role to play in helping people to understand the criticality of these infrastructures, which are pillars of the digital age, and in ensuring that they are accepted.
“Companies are not the only users of data centers. Every email sent, every Google search, every video streamed, every online banking transaction, every weather check or route search on your smartphone, and many other everyday actions rely on a data center” insists Alexandre Delaval, Country Director of Data4 in France.
The need for skills in this field will continue to grow, which is why it is essential to raise awareness among the general public, and particularly among young people, of the essentiality of the data center industry.”
About Data4
Data4 is a major European operator and investor in the data center market. The Group finances, designs, builds and operates its own data centers. Data4 Group has pioneered an ultra-connected, resilient and sustainable data center campus model, with the aim of supporting its customers’ digital growth over the long term by providing them with scalable and secure hosting solutions for their IT servers, ranging from a single rack to a dedicated building. The Group is committed to a proactive approach to sustainable development through its Data4 Good program, which is based on 4 main pillars: environment, people, community and governance.
Data4 Group operates some of the most powerful data center campuses in Europe, with land and electricity reserves that are unique on the European market. Data4’s data centers in France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Germany and Luxembourg are home to international cloud operators and major telecoms providers, as well as innovative tech companies and multinationals . For more information: data4group.com
Data4 PR contact
Rebecca Birna
rebecca.birna@data4group.com
+33 6 37 03 32 99
PR Archives: Latest, By Company, By Date