Global data traffic volume at Internet Exchanges around the world has more than doubled since 2020, reaching 79 exabytes, with North America experiencing one of the largest year-on-year increases
New York, USA, 20 January 2026. DE-CIX, the world’s leading Internet Exchange 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 Super Bowl game in full HD for 2.2 million years. While Europe’s largest Internet Exchange, DE-CIX Frankfurt, saw traffic rise to 48 EB, up 6% from 2024, at DE-CIX North America, data traffic across the platform grew by 46%, reaching 11 Exabytes, up from 7.5 EB in 2024. 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).
Two of the youngest DE-CIX locations, both taken live in 2025, Mexico City/Queretaro (Mexico) and Sao Paulo (Brazil) experienced 24 PB and 10 PB data traffic respectively in their first months of operation. The distributed IX DE-CIX Mexico has seen significant traffic gains already in the new year, with peak traffic growing by 200% in the first half of January alone – setting the stage for further growth in the North American ecosystem in 2026.
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.
The single busiest day occurred on 9 December 2025, coinciding with a busy UEFA Champions League matchday, when 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.
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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About DE-CIX North America
DE-CIX North America Inc., pronounced DEE-KICKS [dˈi:-kˈɪks], which began operations in 2014, is a wholly owned subsidiary of DE-CIX International AG, the international arm of DE-CIX, the world’s leading Internet Exchange operator. The DE-CIX Internet Exchanges in Chicago, Dallas, Houston, New York, Phoenix and Richmond, and the dedicated Cloud Exchange in Seattle, together with direct connectivity to DE-CIX Mexico, create the largest neutral interconnection ecosystem in North America. DE-CIX provides network and data center neutral peering and other interconnection services in North America. DE-CIX’s IXs are distributed across major carrier hotels and data centers throughout each metro region it serves. DE-CIX operates more access points than any other Internet Exchange operator in North America.
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