Data centre building tracker in EMEA(Q1–2, 2024) Microsoft Google Others Amazon Meta Equinix Digital Realty Telecom Italia Vantage NTT Azrieli CyrusOne Apple Telehouse Iron Mountain Global Switch Ark Data Centres(UK) Deutsche Telekom Keppel Green Mountain Colt KAO Data SAP 0 1.0 1.5 Source: Data from Omdia Figure 7 2.0 2.5 Capacity(GW) relatively small, with Equinix estimating the non-hyperscal­er AI compute market at€12 bn by 2030(Tairych& Delp 2025). However, they have been highlighted as a potential alternative to the entrenched dominant position of the hyperscalers. Neocloud providers emerged with the provision of AI serv­ers and virtual machines, or an‘AI compute GPU-as-a-ser­vice’, offering to meet global demand for high-end comput­er chips. The origins of many companies lies in cryptomin­ing, possessing parallel computing chips that became a scarce commodity after the launch of ChatGPT spurred intense competition to develop LLMs. The crypto bubble bursting around 2019 led companies like the US cryptomin ­ing firm CoreWeave to pivot their business model towards the provision of compute for AI applications(Dave 2024), by repurposing their own GPUs and buying up GPUs from struggling cryptominers. These neoclouds have a different cost and product profile compared with traditional hyperscale cloud providers, which offer diverse computation, infrastructure, platform and software services. Neoclouds therefore positioned themselves as alternatives to hyperscale providers. As they Introduction 13