GS Spark: Journal of Applied Academic Discourse

GS Spark: Journal of Applied Academic Discourse, Volume 4, Issue 1, June 2026, -

Publication date: Jul 28, 2026

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This study investigates the structural evolution, macro-environmental drivers, and systemic challenges of the data center industry in Nepal during the transformative period from 2020 to 2026. The research method epistemologically aligns with positivism and adopts a deductive descriptive and analytical approach while sourcing secondary numeric data from sources such as NTA, NRB, MoCIT and World Bank.
Findings conclude that Nepal saw considerable growth over this period as data center market capital stood at USD 236.90 million in 2020 and reached USD 407.15 million in 2025, growing at a CAGR of 10.44% to reach an expected market volume of USD 1.10 billion by 2035 due to demand side pressures such as the broadband penetration rate at 136% of total population (29.11 million users) and the sharp increase in mobile money transactions totaling 24.65 million users as of June 2025.
On a regional front however, the country lags behind compared to neighboring countries in terms of readiness such as India and Bangladesh. Analyses through positional rankings lists four critical macroeconomic and business risk: (1) weak power supply primarily from seasonal hydroelectricity causing low winter months' supply thus necessitating thermal imported electricity up to 274 MW; (2) escalated CapEx & OpEx because of technology imports and equipment needs; (3) lack of national cyber security/data protection laws; and (4) dense population and locations clustered primarily in the earthquake prone Valley.
The study recommends strategies such as policy upgrades including introducing green tariffs locally, and enforced regional dispersion of data center locations to weatherize Nepal’s digital infrastructure and enable a hyper available network.

Data Centers Digital Infrastructure Information Systems Technology Management Hydropower Nexus Emerging Economies ICT Policy.

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