DHL announced a significant expansion of its North America data centre logistics (DCL) infrastructure with 10 dedicated warehouse sites totalling more than seven million square feet of capacity set to go live in 2026. Designed for hyperscale and colocation data centre operators racing to deploy new capacity, the facilities will offer white‑glove handling, rack configuration services, and specialised warehouse‑to‑site transportation.
White‑glove handling ensures servers, power modules, and networking systems are moved under tightly controlled conditions to prevent damage that could trigger costly delays. Rack configuration services move critical integration and testing out of the live construction zone and into secure warehouse environments, reducing on‑site complexity and lowering the risk of installation delays. Specialised warehouse‑to‑site transport addresses the practical challenges of moving oversized or sensitive components through congested metro areas, active construction zones, or remote greenfield locations. By relocating critical work into controlled logistics hubs, operators can maintain build speed and safeguard high‑value infrastructure programs.
The expansion comes as data centre operators face compressed build schedules, intricate construction sequences, and global supply chains spanning manufacturing hubs in Asia and deployment markets across North America, Europe, and beyond. DHL Supply Chain in North America is also supporting mission‑critical construction logistics for new mega‑campuses, helping customers manage the precision and speed required in today’s buildouts.
“Hyperscalers are creating the digital backbone of the AI era, and they are doing so at extraordinary speed,” said Hendrik Venter, Global CEO, DHL Supply Chain. “Our expanded North America footprint is purpose‑built to match that pace – from high‑security warehousing and configuration services to white‑glove handling and 24/7 service‑logistics readiness. Combined with deep integration across DHL divisions, we offer a single accountable partner that connects global supply flows with precise on‑the‑ground execution. That’s what keeps large‑scale data centre projects on schedule and resilient. And this marks only the beginning of our group‑wide expansion in this fast‑growing sector. North America – home to more than 40% of the world’s data centres – is a first major step, with additional regions already scheduled for further capacity upgrades.”
The announcement follows an independently commissioned survey of data centre decision‑makers showing that 85% prefer a single end‑to‑end logistics partner, while only 43% feel they have one today. At the same time, around 70% rely on third‑party logistics providers only for specific tasks such as white‑glove delivery or reverse logistics, highlighting fragmented setups. Additionally, 89% rated having a single account manager as “very important,” underscoring the demand for unified leadership even when services span multiple providers.
This DHL expansion connects well to the DHL Global Forwarding network, securing multimodal transport, customs expertise, and heavy-lift/out-of-gauge capabilities – essential as high-value IT and power cooling systems often originate offshore. In Latin America, rising investment is driving demand for bonded storage, secure server transport, and multimodal routing to meet aggressive deployment schedules. Specialised charter flights are increasingly used across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, intra-Asia Pacific and Asia-Pacific-U.S. corridors.
“Data centre logistics crosses oceans, borders, and regulatory regimes,” said Oscar de Bok, Global CEO, DHL Global Forwarding, Freight. “Whether it’s graphics processing units (GPUs) – the high-performance processors that power modern AI models – moving by air, power modules by ocean, or out-of-gauge components transported by engineered road solutions to remote build sites, customers depend on synchronised, secure, and time-critical execution. With our experts in Industrial Projects, dedicated charter capacity, and multimodal routing, we keep these high-value shipments on schedule end-to-end. The combination of scale, sensitivity, and speed makes this one of the most demanding global supply chains – and it is exactly where tight coordination across DHL’s portfolio of businesses becomes a real advantage for customers racing to bring new capacity online.”
As hyperscalers scale globally, DHL’s global network and broad multimodal capabilities give customers a single, trusted partner across borders – integrating international supply flows with precise local execution to keep projects on schedule and infrastructure online.
