Data Centers in Vancouver

Vancouver – Gateway to the Pacific & North America

Executive Summary

Vancouver is a prime data center market for organizations requiring a stable, low-risk North American hub with excellent connectivity to both the US Pacific Northwest and Asia. Its robust network infrastructure and strategic location ensure low-latency performance and high availability for mission-critical applications. This market is ideal for disaster recovery, content delivery, and cloud access.

Vancouver: At A Glance

Network & Connectivity Ecosystem

Carrier Density & Carrier Neutrality Vancouver supports a dense and competitive connectivity market, with over 20 unique network providers available in the top colocation facilities as of September 2025. This ensures carrier-neutral environments where customers can optimize for cost, performance, and redundancy.

Direct Cloud On-Ramps As of September 2025, the market features 3 dedicated cloud on-ramps providing private, low-latency access to 11 global cloud regions. Direct connectivity is available for major platforms including:

• AWS Direct Connect
• Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) The primary public peering point is the Vancouver Internet Exchange (VANIX). VANIX facilitates efficient local traffic exchange, reducing latency and transit costs for connected networks.

Bare Metal Bare metal server solutions are readily available from multiple providers in Vancouver. These services are ideal for workloads requiring dedicated hardware performance. Options include providers like Hivelocity and phoenixNAP.

Power Analysis

Average Cost Of Power Industrial power costs in Vancouver are estimated to be between C$0.08 – C$0.12/kWh as of September 2025. This competitive pricing, largely due to the region's reliance on hydropower, helps manage the significant operational expenses of high-density computing.

Power Grid Reliability The region's power grid is well-engineered and highly reliable, supported predominantly by hydroelectric generation. Major data center corridors in Vancouver feature redundant power feeds and multi-substation support, ensuring high uptime for critical facilities.

Market Access, Business & Tax Climate

Proximity To Key Business Districts Vancouver's data centers are strategically located to serve the downtown financial and technology core, as well as growing tech hubs in surrounding areas like Burnaby. This proximity provides local businesses with single-digit millisecond latency for their most demanding applications.

Regional Market Reach Beyond the metro area, Vancouver serves as a critical digital gateway for all of Western Canada and the US Pacific Northwest. Its coastal location also makes it a primary North American landing point for subsea cables connecting to Asia-Pacific markets.

Tax Advantage For Data Centers While British Columbia does not offer specific tax incentives for data center development, the province provides a stable and predictable business environment. The primary financial advantage comes from competitive power pricing and access to a skilled workforce.

Natural Disaster Risk

According to the INFORM Risk Index, Vancouver has a Low overall risk profile, with a score of 2.7 out of 10 as of September 2025. While the overall risk is low, operators must engineer facilities to mitigate specific regional hazards. The most significant natural hazard exposures for the region are:

• River Flood (7.1)
• Tsunami (5.7)
• Coastal Flood (5.4)
• Earthquake (4.8)

Modern data centers in the area are constructed to high seismic standards and are typically located outside of designated flood and tsunami inundation zones.