Originally posted to Data Center Frontier by Rich Miller,

Microsoft Deals Drive Blockbuster Year for Data Center LeasingMicrosoft leased as much as 125 megawatts of third-party data center space in 2016, accounting for the top six deals in the wholesale data center market during 2016, according to a new report. The massive leasing by Microsoft was the highlight in a blockbuster year for wholesale providers, including the publicly-held data center REITs (real estate investment trusts).

“Hyperscale cloud leasing led by Microsoft and Oracle in Multi-Tenant Data Centers (MTDC) drove a 25 percent increase in leasing activity from 2015; a historic high,” wrote Jim Kerrigan of North American Data Centers, whose latest report tracks deals and space in the wholesale space. “Large cloud providers shifting from speculative leasing to pre-leasing during the past 15 months have been a welcome occurrence to the overall MTDC market.”

The enormous deal volume has left industry watchers wondering whether this level of activity is sustainable. Kerrigan believes that the blockbuster leasing will continue.

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