Another 2013 study showed 70% of data-center companies built or significantly renovated a data center in the past five years. That is down, however, from 2012 and 2011, when 80% did so, according to the Uptime Institute study based on a 2013 survey of 1,000 professionals from mostly large North American data centers. Some 81% of center operators that manage more than 5,000 servers built new infrastructure, the study says.

Meanwhile, there is no shortage of data-center investments streaming from the massive tech giants. Recently, Microsoft launched a $350-million investment to expand its Boydton, Va., facility, according to media reports. Microsoft declined to comment.

For the giants, keeping up with Internet traffic is critical, especially as traffic has soared exponentially (see table). "The growth of the internet and ... the amount of traffic we are driving" are key to the upsurge in data centers, Williams says.

"That traffic has a physical manifestation. It has to be delivered over fiber optics. On either end of the fiber, there needs to be servers to send and receive the information and switches to direct the bits from one end to the other," Williams says. "As traffic grows, so does demand for those pieces of equipment. It's a huge driver and one of the things that the big tech firms are doing when they expand their capabilities."