Global broking group Aon’s Reinsurance Solutions team recently designed and placed the very first data centre specific treaty, and the company is actively engaged with other insurers as it continues to “innovative and lead” this “generational opportunity”, President and CEO, Greg Case, said earlier today.
The opportunities from the rapid advancement of digital infrastructure, notably AI and machine learning and hyperscale data centres, has been an extremely hot topic in the re/insurance sector for some months now, and this has continued during Q4 and full year 2025 reporting season.
It’s unsurprising given the innovative solutions and huge levels of capital that are going to be required to meet the demands of the AI boom, with some forecasts suggesting that as many as 3,000 new data centres will be built in just the next five years.
Earlier this month, Aon expanded its proprietary Data Center Lifecycle Insurance Program (DCLP) by $1 billion, or 67% to $2.5 billion, and during today’s call, President and CEO Case noted this capacity increase, as well as a positive client story which highlighted Aon’s capabilities in the space, and a new data centre reinsurance treaty.
He revealed that Aon’s “reinsurance team recently designed and placed the first ever data centre specific treaty, delivering a solution that aligns up to $5 billion of capital through the insurance value chain behind a single leading insurer. And we’re actively engaged with several others to help them expand and strengthen their capabilities to provide capacity for clients.”
“Our advisory capabilities around site selection, design and engineering, as well as tremendous data and advanced analytics, are critical to informing effective capital protection decisions in the face of extreme weather, supply chain and cyber risk,” continued Case. “And while we’re still in the very early days of this generational opportunity with data centers, we have some exciting wins under our belt, and our leadership in this space is another factor that supports sustainable organic revenue growth. It’s also another impressive example of Aon innovating to solve client problems.”
Later in the call, during which management also discussed Aon’s Q4 and full year 2025 performance, an analyst quizzed Case further on the data centre opportunity, which the CEO described as “unique” and “monumental”.
Case said: “It also requires a level of response and complexity that’s beyond what the traditional industry has ever accomplished. Just be clear about that. This requires real net new innovation around alternative forms of capital, how we think about risk, how we pull risk, all those pieces. All I’m trying to highlight is, and I think we probably do a third or more of the data centers that are out there now, we’re incredibly well positioned, and we’re having the dialogs no one else is having. But we’re at the beginning of this process.
“If you think about it, there are lots of data centers out there, 1000s of them, but as we think about the build that’s going on now, last week at Davos, this was one of the primary discussion points, and it was really this and AI and how they fit together. This race is just beginning. The opportunity is just beginning.
“This is another proof point on both our ability to innovate and drive net new insight into the market. And second, it just reinforces mid-single digit or greater organic revenue growth. That’s really all we’re trying to do. And so, that’s what I would factor in. It’s another weight on the scale, if you think about what’s going to drive that over time, and we’ll see how it plays. But it’s a unique opportunity, and we’re very well positioned.”
Aon, Marsh, and Gallagher, three global insurance and reinsurance broking groups, all discussed the data centre opportunity during their recent earnings calls, so it’s clearly expected to be an important growth area for intermediaries as they work to capitalise on the AI and digital infrastructure boom.
