As data centres scale, consume more power, and draw tighter community scrutiny, insurance risks are becoming increasingly complex.
As AI infrastructure grows, so do legal risks: large lawsuits involving data centres more than tripled from four in all of 2021 to 14 in the first half of 2026, according to a Howden report.
Planning and environmental disputes are the main drivers of recent legal disputes. While noise and nuisance complaints, including those concerning diesel generator emissions and water consumption, have also become increasingly common, accounting for 78 per cent of the growth in liability cases involving data centres over the past three years.
Europe has roughly 3,300 to 3,500 data centres, with Germany and the UK leading in volume. But the sheer scale of infrastructure being built is drawing backlash from residents and regulators. The UK’s Ofgem has already raised alarms over speculative data centre projects clogging up Britain’s electricity network.
Rising geopolitical issues on infrastructure
In addition to pushback from residents living near data centres, another issue facing the sector, highlighted in Howden’s research, is the growing exposure of data centre infrastructure to geopolitical instability and conflict worldwide.
The report noted that in 2025, data centre space located within 10–15km of active global conflict zones was equivalent to around 60 per cent of the total recorded across the previous five years combined, highlighting how digital infrastructure has expanded near areas affected by war.
Earlier this year, five separate data centres in the UAE and Bahrain were struck by Iranian drones during the early stages of the US war in Iran. These attacks were known as the first deliberate wartime targeting of commercial data centres.
As physical and digital risks converge, the lines between cyber, property, and war insurance are blurring. Howden suggested that, to adapt, the market must align policy wordings and conduct rigorous cyber-physical risk assessments.
Edward Howland Jackson, chief commercial officer, global specialty, Howden, said: “The AI boom is fuelling huge investment in data centres globally, but as our analysis shows, the risks associated with this expansion are wide-ranging and increasingly complex.
“For data centre operators, developers and investors, understanding where these risks are concentrated is critical. The opportunity for the insurance market is not simply to provide more capacity, but to use data, specialist advice and risk transfer to help clients identify these exposures early and build greater resilience as the sector expands.
“Navigating this increasingly complex risk landscape requires specialist risk expertise and deep insurance market insight,” he added.
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