Total volume of data exchanged globally reaches 79 exabytes, a 16% increase from 2024 and more than double that of 2020, driven by live events streaming, AI workloads, and billions of connected devices
Frankfurt (Germany). DE-CIX, the world’s leading Internet Exchange (IX) operator, reports a remarkable year for global data traffic in 2025. Across its global platforms and with more than 4,000 customers connected, 79 exabytes (EB) of data were exchanged, marking a 16% increase over 2024 (68 EB) and more than doubling (+147%) the traffic recorded in 2020 (38 EB). To put this growth into perspective, 79 EB is equivalent to the amount of data that it would take to stream a football game in full HD for 2.2 million years. At Europe’s largest Internet Exchange, DE-CIX Frankfurt, traffic rose to 48 EB, up 6% from 2024 and 65% higher than in 2021 (29 EB).
The single busiest day occurred on 9 December 2025, coinciding with a busy UEFA Champions League matchday involving teams such as Barcelona, Inter Milan, Liverpool, and Eintracht Frankfurt. Global data throughput reached 26.99 terabits per second (Tbit/s) at 20:11 CET (19:11 UTC). If you were to print the amount of data exchanged during just one second of this peak, it would equate to a stack of paper roughly 21 times higher than Mount Everest. The surge demonstrates the growing influence of live sporting events on global Internet usage. At the same moment, DE-CIX Frankfurt set a new all-time record of 18.73 Tbit/s, reinforcing its role as a key European and global connectivity hub.
“The growth in global data traffic is being driven by streaming, AI workloads, billions of connected devices, and the rise of remote and hybrid work around the world. Add the spikes from major live events, gaming and software releases, and significant global happenings, it’s clear that resilient, high-capacity digital infrastructure has never been more critical for our connected world,” says Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX.
From North America to Asia: Further Digital Hubs on the rise in 2025
At DE-CIX North America, data traffic across the platform reached 11 Exabytes in 2025, up from 7.5 EB in 2024 (growth of 46%). While New York experienced 16% growth, rising to 5 EB over the year, Dallas grew by 35% to 3.5 EB, and the younger IX in Chicago saw 400% growth, reaching over 650 petabytes (PB). Madrid (Spain) and Dubai (UAE) both saw 2.7 EB of data traffic in 2025, while Lisbon (Portugal) achieved 115 PB. In Istanbul (Türkiye), 927 PB of traffic was exchanged, up 28% compared to 2024. Traffic at the distributed platform in Southeast Asia grew 140% to 1.2 Exabytes, with Malaysia’s traffic reaching 93 PB. Two of the youngest DE-CIX locations, Mexico City/Queretaro (Mexico) and Sao Paulo (Brazil) experienced 24 PB and 10 PB data traffic respectively in their first months of operation.
Background information: How much is 79 exabytes?
- The transmission speed of data is specified in terabits per second (Tbit/s).
- 1 terabit per second is 10³ Gbit/s, 106 Mbit/s, 109 kbit/s, or 1012 bit/s, or 1,000,000,000,000 bit/s.
- 8 Terabits = 1 Terabyte (TB), 1,000 TB = 1 Petabyte (PB), and 1,000 PB = 1 Exabyte (EB)
- 79 exabytes (EB) is the amount of data that streaming a 2.2-million-year-long football match in high definition would require.
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