According to CBRE Group Inc.'s latest U.S. Data Center Trends Report, investments in U.S. data centers reached more than $20 billion in 2017, higher than the previous three years' combined volume.

The investments include all single asset, portfolio and merger transactions.

CBRE noted that the year's investment activity included several large entity-level deals, including Digital Realty Trust Inc.'s acquisition of DuPont Fabros Technology Inc. and the sale of CenturyLink's 57-asset portfolio.

CBRE noted that 2017 saw a record 267 megawatts of wholesale positive net absorption in seven major U.S. data center markets, up from 191 megawatts in 2016.

Northern Virginia maintained its top spot as the world's most active data center market with net absorption of 121 megawatts in 2017, of which 80 megawatts were absorbed in the second half of the year. The region added 85 megawatts of supply during the second half and had another 86 megawatts under construction in the fourth quarter of 2017.

The top seven most active markets included Silicon Valley, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, the New York Tri-State region, Phoenix and Atlanta.

A joint venture that formed a $2 billion North American data center platform in February recently announced plans for a $1 billion data center facility in Richardson, Texas.