(Image credit: IIR.)
Verisk (Jersey City, N.J.) has launched a U.S. Data Center Exposure Database designed to help insurers, reinsurers and brokers assess growing concentrations of risk associated with data center infrastructure.
The database provides building-level geocoding, facility footprints, physical characteristics and operational attributes for more than 2,500 U.S. data center facilities, according to a Verisk statement.
Rob Newbold, President, Verisk Catastrophe and Risk Solutions.
Verisk says the resource can be used in Verisk Synergy Studio and Touchstone to support underwriting, exposure management, catastrophe analytics and portfolio accumulation analysis.
The launch comes as artificial intelligence, cloud computing and digital services drive investment in data center capacity. Verisk says the rapid expansion of AI-related infrastructure is creating new concentrations of insured value and new challenges for insurers seeking to understand location-level exposure.
“AI is often discussed as a digital transformation story, but it is increasingly a physical infrastructure story,” comments Rob Newbold, President, Verisk Catastrophe and Risk Solutions. “The facilities powering that growth represent billions of dollars in concentrated assets, and that has implications not only for insurers but also for reinsurers, investors and capital markets participants looking to understand and manage emerging sources of potential risk.”
The U.S. Data Center Exposure Database includes rooftop-level geocoding, building footprint data, construction type, floor area, capacity and operational redundancy characteristics. Verisk says available data fields and levels of detail may vary by facility and source.
The database also includes flat-file records, building footprint shapefiles and a 90-meter disaggregation grid to support geospatial analytics and catastrophe modeling.
AI Infrastructure as Physical Risk
Verisk says insurers may rely on incomplete or inconsistent location data when assessing data center exposure concentrations, catastrophe risk and portfolio accumulations. Data centers can contain high-value physical assets while supporting business, government and digital operations.
“Data centers have quietly become one of the largest and fastest-growing concentrations of insured value in the modern economy,” comments Jay Guin, EVP and Chief Research Officer, Verisk Catastrophe and Risk Solutions. “Organizations are investing billions of dollars to support AI-driven growth, but many insurers are increasingly focused on understanding where these assets are located and how risk accumulates across regions and portfolios.”
Jay Guin, EVP, Chief Research Officer, Verisk.
Guin says the database is intended to provide additional information for insurers seeking to identify, measure and manage data center exposure.
“Data centers are ultimately physical facilities with real-world exposure to hurricanes, flooding, severe convective storms, earthquakes and other perils,” Guin comments. “As AI infrastructure continues expanding across the United States, understanding where those assets are located and how risks aggregate becomes increasingly important to insurers, businesses and communities alike.”
Verisk says the database is available to insurers, reinsurers, brokers and other risk management organizations through Verisk Synergy Studio and Touchstone.
The U.S. Data Center Exposure Database was developed by AIR Worldwide Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Verisk Analytics.
Verisk provides data analytics and technology to the insurance industry, supporting underwriting, claims, fraud, catastrophe risk and global risk management.