Importance of Commercial Data Center Site Selection Factors: Applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process

Data center is a fairly substantial infrastructure to support the advent of the fourth industrial revolution. Previous research, relevant industry technical standards, public regulations, and best practices were analyzed to identify factors in the site selection of commercial data centers in Korea by incorporating perspectives from real estate development and full life cycle optimization and recent data center issues. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was employed, and a survey was conducted with four expert groups—investors, developers, constructors, and operators—to assess the relative importance of these site selection factors. The importance of site selection factors varies by group, reflecting the characteristics and positions of the groups involved in different stages of the development project. The developer group places very high importance on site selection factors that reflect recent issues, whereas the operator group, which operates the data center after development completion, places very low importance on factors related to the real estate development business and DC issues. Subsequently, three alternative sites were evaluated as case studies to derive practical implications. Valuable insights are offered by this study into the key factors in the success of commercial data center development projects, which are characterized by strong engineering features.