Data Centers in Pau

Pau – Resilient Edge Infrastructure for Southwest France

Strategic Edge Reliability

Pau serves as a vital regional edge for organizations requiring localized compute in the New Aquitaine region. It is a prime choice for energy and aerospace firms prioritizing data sovereignty and secure disaster recovery sites away from primary metropolitan hubs.

Pau: At A Glance

Network & Connectivity Ecosystem

Pau functions as a strategic regional node, connecting the industrial southwest to the national French backbone. The infrastructure is purpose-built to support local enterprise requirements rather than massive hyperscale transit.

Carrier Density & Carrier Neutrality: Carrier count: over 5 as of September 2025. The market maintains a reliable ecosystem of local and national providers, ensuring competitive transit options for regional deployments.

Direct Cloud On-Ramps: 0, enabling access to 0 cloud regions as of September 2025. While no native on-ramps exist directly in Pau, low-latency private extensions connect users to major cloud hubs in Bordeaux or Paris.

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs): Most peering occurs via regional exchanges in Bordeaux or through private interconnects to reach the national peering fabric in Paris as of September 2025. This structure ensures traffic remains efficient while avoiding unnecessary backhaul to more expensive metros.

Bare Metal: High-performance compute options are available through national leaders like OVHcloud or IONOS as of September 2025.

Power Analysis

The French energy landscape provides a distinct advantage for data center operators in Pau, characterized by high availability and a low carbon footprint.

Average Cost Of Power: €0.18 – €0.24/kWh as of September 2025. These rates are consistent with French industrial pricing, offering a stable cost structure for long-term operational planning. The local mix relies on roughly 68% nuclear and 22% renewable sources, providing a resilient supply for high-uptime environments.

Power Grid Reliability: The grid in this region is well-engineered and benefits from the national French transmission network. Redundant substation support ensures that localized infrastructure remains operational during peak demand periods as of September 2025.

Market Access, Business & Tax Climate

Pau is a specialized market that caters to high-tech industrial sectors that require local compute power and proximity to physical operations.

Proximity To Key Business Districts: Data centers here are positioned to serve the energy, geosciences, and aerospace industries. Proximity to major corporate campuses, such as those for TotalEnergies, allows for low-latency applications in seismic processing and engineering simulation as of September 2025.

Regional Market Reach: Pau effectively serves the Pyrenees-Atlantiques region and provides a gateway to cross-border collaboration with northern Spain as of September 2025.

Tax Advantage For Data Centers: Regional development is supported by European-level financing for infrastructure expansion. This financial backing reduces the total cost of ownership for long-term projects and encourages the deployment of high-density hardware as of September 2025.

Natural Disaster Risk

Pau maintains an overall Low risk profile with a score of 2.7/10 as of September 2025. The region is geographically stable, making it an excellent choice for disaster recovery sites.

• River Flood: 7.5. This is the primary local concern for specific low-lying areas.
• Earthquake: 2.8. Seismic activity is present but remains at a very low intensity.
• Tsunami: 2.5. This is an indirect regional figure as Pau is located inland.
• Coastal Flood: 7.4. This is an indirect regional risk; the city itself is shielded by its inland position.

Other natural hazards, such as tropical cyclones or droughts, are considered minor or not listed as of September 2025.