Data centers combine computing infrastructure such as computers, servers, storage and networks under one roof.
Hardware, power distribution, cooling systems that compensate for high temperatures, security measures against cyberattacks and firefighting infrastructure are of great importance for these centers.
Depending on the needs, data centers are divided into traditional, enterprise, colocation, cloud, hybrid, hyperscale and edge data centers.
Training artificial intelligence models requires a lot of computing power and energy. For this purpose, liquid cooling systems are preferred instead of classic air conditioning systems.
Opportunity area for Türkiye
Strong energy infrastructure, a high-performance power grid and investment-friendly regulations are crucial for Türkiye to gain a greater share in the global transformation in artificial intelligence and data centers.
It is believed that Türkiye can be a regional base in this area by positioning data centers at the intersection of energy, industrial and digital transformation policies. Therefore, data center investments are viewed as a strategic opportunity area for Türkiye.
One of the main objectives in this context is to facilitate access to data and accelerate the process of creating value for researchers, entrepreneurs and public institutions. The aim is to make at least 2,000 public data sets, particularly in the areas of health, agriculture, defense and electronic commerce, available to citizens through the National Data Library.
At least 2 percent share for artificial intelligence projects in investment programs
Cooperation between the public and private sectors will be strengthened so that Türkiye becomes a regional data center base and one of the centers of the digital economy.
At the “Turkey Artificial Intelligence Summit” where he announced Türkiye's artificial intelligence vision and action plan, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said: “We will increase our country's installed data center capacity to at least 1 gigawatt by 2030. We will treat the electronic state as a transformation area where our citizens will directly experience the public services supported by artificial intelligence.” He gave his assessment.
In this context, at least 2 percent of public investment programs are allocated to projects in the field of artificial intelligence. The public will be the first buyer and the strongest reference of successful and domestic artificial intelligence solutions.
SMEs will be provided with the necessary technology to turn ideas into products in priority areas, in particular health, energy and smart production.
$10 billion investment with public-private collaboration
President Erdoğan stated that they would secure and strengthen sovereign artificial intelligence capabilities within the framework of the “Manage” objectives of the Artificial Intelligence Action Plan.
Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacır also stated that they will mobilize private sector investments of $10 billion by providing public funds of about $3 billion within the scope of investments in data centers and artificial intelligence.
As part of the studies, international entrepreneurs are presented with a one-stop roadmap for their investments in this area for a maximum of 30 working days. This creates a predictable, fast and coordinated investment environment.
Istanbul will be the heart of “investment diplomacy” in the field of artificial intelligence
Istanbul will be one of the prominent centers of Türkiye work in this area. The city is to be positioned as an international model and investment diplomacy city for Türkiyes.
Terminal Istanbul will be the meeting point for entrepreneurs and investors.
Türkiye wants to play an active role in setting human-centered standards for artificial intelligence in the OECD, G20, United Nations and other platforms.
Together with the Organization of Turkish States, work has begun to develop a common major language model for Turkic languages, which includes the Oghuz, Kipchak and Karluk languages.
The added value created by the resources to be mobilized with the Türkiye Artificial Intelligence Action Plan is expected to exceed 1 trillion lira.
These studies are expected to pave the way for Türkiye's goals of becoming a “regional base” in data centers and managing the digital economy.
In addition, legal regulations for data centers will come into force.
GSM operators are taking the lead
With the investments and measures made, Türkiye is preparing for the transition from traditional local data centers to a “hyperscale” ecosystem in which major global technology companies are directly based.
The investment, decided in collaboration with Turkcell and Google Cloud, is proving to be the hottest and largest investment in the industry. The total size of the data center project, whose foundation was laid in Ankara and consisting of three separate redundant network clusters, is $3 billion. Turkcell is responsible for $1 billion of this budget, Google Cloud for $2 billion. The facility is expected to be operational at full capacity in 2028.
Türk Telekom announced that it has achieved successful results in power-consuming data center cooling operations with the Liquid Immersion Cooling System it tested.
Vodafone Turkey announced that they will open a new data center in Izmir in the coming days in collaboration with DAMAC Digital with an investment of 150 million dollars and that they have significantly increased the capacity of their data center in Ankara with an investment of 18 million euros.
The number of data centers is increasing
There are 81 data centers in Turkey. 33 of them are in Istanbul, 13 in Ankara, 10 in Izmir, 8 in Bursa, 4 in Kocaeli, 3 in Denizli and 2 in Gaziantep. In addition, there is a data center in Tekirdağ, Trabzon, Isparta, Antalya, Adana, Kayseri, Konya and Samsun.
The HIT-30 program, which supports high-technology investments, and the 303 strategic projects to be supported locally are expected to be key to Türkiye's development. As part of the HIT-30 program, a funding budget of $1.5 billion was made available for data centers. Tax incentives of up to 50 percent for investments, energy promotion and employment subsidies of up to 10 percent of the investment are provided.
With these incentives, the plan is to expand data centers to secure regions of Anatolia. As part of the “Local Development Move”, investments in data center projects (rock carvings) and the production of hot air balloons and their components are expected in Nevşehir.
There are plans to convert natural cold storage units carved into the rock in Cappadocia into data centers due to their energy efficiency and security benefits. The works are being prepared by Ahiler Development Agency (AHİKA). The investment and operating costs of the data center to be built in Nevşehir are expected to be 45 percent lower compared to Istanbul and Ankara.
Global market size
According to online statistics portal Statista and industry reports, the global data center systems market, which was $416 billion in 2024, is expected to exceed $570 billion this year, and the market is expected to reach $620 billion by 2030.
According to International Energy Agency findings contained in the Turkish Electricity Industry Association (TESAB) report “Data Centers: Global Developments and Türkiye's Route”, there is historic growth in the data center sector. Global data center capacity, which was about 60 gigawatts in 2020, increased by over 60 percent, rising to 97 gigawatts in 2024.
If current trends continue, global capacity is expected to reach 226 gigawatts in 2030 and 277 gigawatts in 2035. It is predicted that through widespread use of artificial intelligence, electricity consumption could reach 1,750 terawatts/hour by 2035.
The USA is the leader in the number of data centers
US artificial intelligence technology companies such as OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Anthropic and Nvidia contribute to the country's economy not only in the model development race, but also in chip exports, cloud computing, data centers and artificial intelligence services.
In this context, US companies generated $285.9 billion last year of the $344.7 billion invested by private companies worldwide in artificial intelligence.
At the end of last year, there were 5,427 data centers in the United States. They are followed by Germany with 529 and the United Kingdom with 523. The fact that these centers consume more energy than any other region puts energy needs at the center of the U.S. artificial intelligence strategy. The United States is one of the countries with the highest share of data center electricity consumption per capita.
Bir yanıt yazın