Analysis
This sample analysis highlights how we analyse emerging, high‑value risk classes at scale. We show how data‑centre construction is reshaping capacity needs, why carriers are adjusting structures to manage aggregation, and which players are driving the new facilities race. It illustrates how we translate technical market shifts into practical insight on capacity, risk selection and pricing power.
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The market faces a lack of traditional capacity, and the concern of aggregation risk.
With billions being invested in the creation and upscaling of data centres across the world, several lines of business face the prospect of a surge in demand for cover, starting with construction.
This publication has canvassed the construction market to understand how brokers are going beyond typical markets and placement structures to amass capacity and who are the key players rising to the challenge.
Tomorrow, the second part of this article will outline details of the key risks posed by data centres and what insurers are doing to manage them, including concerns around aggregation risk.
Scale of the opportunity
Aon has reported that 2,108 data centres are under construction or planned with $5trn to $10trn in total investment due by 2030.
McKinsey data is in line with these scenarios, projecting that data centre infrastructure investments could reach $7trn by 2030.
With this surge of demand for data centres, Aon reports that between 2026 and 2030, cumulative global insurance premiums associated with data centres are estimated to be $134bn.
At around $27bn annually, that would be approaching a third of the $90bn US surplus lines premium written last year, and over a quarter the $104bn commercial property premiums, per S&P data.
However, some are more guarded on the scale of the opportunity.
During Chubb's last earnings call, CEO Evan Greenberg noted that the industry was “all focused on [data centres] but I’d be careful not to be overly breathless about this”.
He explained that there are headwinds to the pace of construction, including affordability of energy, labour availability and supply chain concerns.
Regardless of the long-term prospects, the new business coming to construction markets has been meaningful, reflecting that alongside new units in the works, many existing data centres are already being scaled up.
Sources told this publication that as of around five years ago, a ‘large’ data centre would have a value of around $1bn. Now a ‘large’ data centre is closer to $22bn although the insurance limits being offered are much lower than that, sources say.
Hunt for capacity
The challenge that the construction market has been trying to solve for the past year – and which it is now making fast progress on – has been in closing the gap between the typical large construction tower and these higher limits demanded by data centres.
Head of construction at The Fidelis Partnership, Edward Samengo-Turner, told Insurance Insider that “with the construction market usually topping out at [programs] around between $3bn to $4bn, people are looking to try and insure values in excess of $10bn.”
Senior construction market sources said that the construction market tends to be a quota share market, often not writing layered programmes. In previous years, only one or two carriers were needed to write a single data centre when the size and total value was smaller.
To manage the lack of conventional construction capacity for those much larger towers, markets are looking to use capacity from carriers which do not usually write construction through mechanisms such as consortia, facilities and reinsurance-backed lines.
Sources also noted that brokers are having to utilise both domestic carriers as well as the international marketplace to place the large-scale risks.
Brokers have launched “lifecycle” facilities, which aim to provide cover for a majority of the risks presented by data centres from the construction through to operations.
Launched last year for example, Aon has upped its Data Center Lifestyle Capacity Program to $2.5bn.
Similarly, Marsh launched its large-scale data-centre construction insurance facility Nimbus last year with an initial provision of EUR1bn for the UK and Europe. It has since increased the limits offered to $2.7bn.
The Fidelis Partnership has launched its consortium focusing on just the construction aspect of data centre cover.
Another way to drum up the capacity has been through a few markets deploying huge lines with reinsurance backing. For example, property insurer FM has secured capacity to offer limits up to $5bn for its FM Intellium clients, backed by a new risk reinsurance deal, as this publication revealed.
Sources told this publication that this is a much larger line than usually written by FM, which tends to take full tower or close to full tower placements.
As noise around data centres continues to grow, the industry is beginning to see a war for line size develop in the data centre market as carriers and brokers begin to make land grabs for new premium dollars and position themselves as leaders in the segment.
Sources also noted that insurers like Zurich, Starr, Chubb, Allianz and Liberty and reinsurers such as Swiss Re and Munich Re are all significant capacity providers, providing credible lead terms.
It isn’t just carriers that stand to win from this new business stream – brokers are also already reporting positive outcomes from catering to data centre demand. Aon cited robust double-digit growth in its construction business in the quarter on data centre deals, with WTW also reporting new construction-related growth.
The results of these collaborations are already starting to show through in large milestone deals. These include a $2bn+ tower placed for Meta last year by Marsh, Alliant and RT Specialty, to as much as $8.5bn, placed by Aon this year.
But there are still markets that remain to be tapped and which could be critical in getting broader cat risk coverage for data centres, for example.
Some sources noted that reinsurers are particularly concerned about aggregation risks and can find it harder to “take a punt” on newer asset classes because there is little historical loss experience or risk data to analyse.
“Reinsurers just want way more data, and it isn’t there yet on how these risks will perform.
“I think that's where the institutional capital has an opportunity to provide some capacity right now, because I don't think you've got full access to the reinsurance market,” one senior source commented.
Lloyd’s chief of market performance Rachel Turk told Insurance Insider that Lloyd’s has been discussing opportunities for big banks to contribute to consortia or syndicates for data centres.
She said that if the numbers are to be believed for what will be required for data centre expansion, then the numbers are bigger than the insurance market can facilitate.
“So, this isn't an insurance market alone solution. You need to the other elements of the financial institutions sector involved,” she said.
Complex peril mix
When asked what sets data centres apart as a risk compared to large construction placements, sources explained that data centre covers represent a concentration of all the major challenges for the industry, including weather events, cyber, environmental, liability amongst others, one source explained.
Further, with this complex risk which comprises several interconnected perils, it seems there are few underwriters who have developed specialisation in the field, despite the emergence of early leaders.
It is not just the size and speed at which these projects are being planned that is setting apart these projects as noteworthy, but the complexity of the projects and the speed at which they are being executed.
Sources said that the data centre boom is not as simple as a high volume of standard construction, which will simply transition to property policies.
As well as the standard construction and property coverage that is expected, impacted classes could include property, cyber, marine cargo, terrorism, specie, liability, tech E&O, energy and renewables.
However, construction seems to be seeing the lion’s share of capacity requirements currently, and carriers are already providing cover for these additional classes.
In some cases, carriers are able to benefit from being on the initial construction cover, as they are requiring to be part of the subsequent property tower, effectively guaranteeing premium in the future.
Marsh’s Kate Fairhead, senior vice president on Marsh’s construction team, told this publication that in the last handful of months, “a number of different insurers have reached out and are looking on a cross-class basis to understand more about data centres...[and] how their different product lines touch data centres.
She added that it is “very rare that across a single asset you can have in the room four or five different line class underwriters all trying to get a feel for the exposures that could be impacting them”.
What also sets apart the data centres from a typical construction project is not only the huge value on the project, but where the value comes from.
Ed Holland, head of North American construction (London) at WTW explained that a traditional construction policy places 80-90% of the value in the shell and core building. For data centres, though, there seems to be closer to a 50% split between the shell and the core and technology fit out values.
He said that phasing of the project determines how much risk is sat in the construction market and how much can be transferred over to the operational market at any given point.
“That impacts the total capacity needed through the lifetime of the project,” he said.
David Hayhow, partner and practice leader for the global construction practice at Lockton, agreed that planning can help manage the limits needed for data centres.
“You need to be analytical about the real need, understanding the separation of value on a site and sequencing of construction,” he explained, noting that a $10bn data centre with multiple separate buildings could have true exposure as low as $3bn.
To this end, he said that London market writers were good at adopting an approach that lets them maximise lines deployed.
But given that data centres are not buildings but “a lot of mechanical kit with a roof on top”, he said that “underwriting rigour is significant relative to an equivalent value four-wall construction project”.
Another key challenge is understanding which insurance coverages are mandatory in which countries.
Marsh’s Fairhead noted that brokers are playing a key role in assisting these firms with navigating this growth “minefield”.
“We are seeing companies operate in places they've never touched before.”
In part two of this deep dive article, Insurance Insider will discuss how carriers are thinking about aggregation and other risks associated with data centres.
By Abbie Day
February 17, 2026