Market Overview
The
next-generation cold storage market is best understood as the modernized layer of the broader cold storage industry: automated, sensor-rich, energy-efficient, low-GWP, high-throughput temperature-controlled facilities designed for food, pharmaceutical, biotech, and e-commerce supply chains.
The Next-Generation Cold Storage Market stood at US$ 185.75 billion in 2025 and, applying the reported 11.8% CAGR through the forecast window, is projected to reach US$ 405.53 billion by 2032.
What distinguishes next-generation cold storage from traditional capacity is the combination of
automation, throughput optimization, energy management, refrigerant transition, and data visibility. Newmark’s 2025 U.S. market overview explicitly describes a “flight to quality,” with occupiers favoring modern facilities that offer automation, energy efficiency, and higher throughput while older assets face rising vacancy pressure. That pattern matters strategically because it signals that the market is not simply expanding in cubic footage; it is repricing around asset quality, operating intelligence, and sustainability compliance.
From 2022 to 2024, investment momentum was supported by online grocery expansion, higher resilience requirements in food and pharma, and tighter handling expectations for temperature-sensitive products. By 2025, the market had moved decisively into an upgrade cycle where capital increasingly flows toward facilities with automated storage and retrieval systems, multi-temperature configuration, better insulation, real-time condition monitoring, and future-ready refrigeration systems. That trend is visible in the investment and development activity of Lineage, NewCold, Americold, DHL Supply Chain, and Nichirei.
Executive Market Snapshot
| Metric |
Value |
| Market Size in 2025 |
US$ 185.75 Billion |
| Market Size in 2032 |
US$ 405.53 Billion |
| CAGR 2026-2032 |
11.8% |
| Largest Storage Type in 2025 |
Facilities and Services - US$ 127.05 Billion |
| Largest Temperature Segment in 2025 |
Chilled - US$ 85.82 Billion |
| Largest Application in 2025 |
Food and Beverages - US$ 145.07 Billion |
| Largest Region in 2025 |
North America - US$ 65.38 Billion |
| Fastest Strategic Growth Region |
Asia-Pacific |
| Largest Country Market in 2025 |
United States - US$ 34.29 Billion |
| Highest Structural Upgrade Market |
Japan |
Analyst Perspective
This market should be read as an
infrastructure modernization market, not merely a warehouse capacity market. The buyers creating the most durable demand are not simply seeking more freezer or chilled space. They are seeking lower labor intensity, better cube utilization, more reliable temperature integrity, tighter ESG alignment, lower energy cost per pallet moved, and improved auditability across food and pharmaceutical chains. That is why the strongest capital formation is clustering around highly automated, newly built, or substantially retrofitted facilities rather than across the installed base as a whole.
The category matters because cold storage now sits closer to revenue continuity and customer service performance than in prior cycles. It is a return-on-capital question shaped by occupancy risk, energy intensity, refrigerant transition cost, and labor productivity. For CTOs and operations leaders, the competitive edge increasingly depends on controls, sensors, warehouse execution software, robotics compatibility, and predictive maintenance. These are the characteristics that define next-generation assets and separate premium networks from legacy portfolios.
Market Dynamics
Drivers
The flight to high-performance facilities
Occupiers increasingly prefer automated and energy-efficient assets because they improve storage density, reduce manual handling, support faster turns, and provide more stable thermal performance. Newmark’s 2025 U.S. overview makes this explicit, noting that demand is concentrating in modern cold storage facilities while older assets face relative pressure.
Refrigerant and sustainability transition
In the United States, the EPA’s AIM Act implementation and related technology transition rules affect cold storage warehouses and other refrigeration subsectors, pushing the market toward lower-GWP systems and more future-compliant designs. In Europe, the new F-gas regime has added stronger pressure around leakage prevention, reporting, labeling, and phased transition away from high-GWP refrigerants. These policies do not just regulate the market; they accelerate replacement and upgrade demand for next-generation facilities.
Multi-sector demand convergence
Food and beverages remain the dominant revenue source, but pharma, biologics, meal delivery, online grocery, and export-oriented agriculture all benefit from better temperature control, visibility, and dwell-time management. As operators serve more mixed customer portfolios, they increasingly invest in multi-temperature, digitally orchestrated facilities that can support both frozen and chilled flows with better precision.
Restraints
Capital intensity
Next-generation facilities require significantly more investment than conventional refrigerated boxes because automation, insulation, controls, power redundancy, and low-GWP refrigeration systems all add upfront cost. This is one reason development has become concentrated among large, well-capitalized operators and sponsors.
Energy and utilization risk
Cold storage is an energy-intensive asset class, and underutilized modern facilities can suffer from weak economics even when technically advanced. South Korea’s logistics market, for example, has shown stress in parts of the cold storage segment through prolonged vacancy in some facilities, illustrating that technology quality alone does not guarantee healthy utilization.
Policy and compliance complexity across jurisdictions
Refrigerant rules, leakage obligations, logistics efficiency mandates, import controls, and national supply-chain policies all affect operating decisions. For global developers and operators, this means that the best opportunities are not always the biggest markets, but the markets where modern compliance-ready design can be monetized at attractive occupancy levels.
Market Segmentation Analysis
By Storage Type
F
acilities and services generated
US$ 127.05 billion in 2025, representing
68.40% of the global next-generation cold storage market. This segment is projected to reach
US$ 272.11 billion by 2032 as the industry continues to prioritize high-performance warehousing, value-added temperature-controlled handling, and specialized throughput services.
Equipment accounted for
US$ 58.70 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach
US$ 133.42 billion by 2032, supported by demand for automation systems, modern refrigeration hardware, controls, sensors, and retrofits. This split aligns with the fact that facility-led monetization still dominates, even though equipment intensity is rising rapidly inside modern builds.
By Temperature Range
The
chilled segment generated
US$ 85.82 billion in 2025, or
46.20% share, and is projected to reach
US$ 181.68 billion by 2032. Chilled capacity leads because it serves a wide mix of fresh food, dairy, produce, foodservice, and selected pharmaceutical flows. The
frozen segment represented
US$ 70.77 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach
US$ 155.72 billion by 2032, with particularly strong adoption in highly automated facilities designed around packaged foods and retail replenishment. The
deep-frozen segment accounted for
US$ 29.16 billion in 2025 and should reach
US$ 68.13 billion by 2032, helped by premium food exports, biotech use cases, and more specialized thermal requirements.
By Application
F
ood and beverages remained the dominant end-use, generating
US$ 145.07 billion in 2025, equal to
78.10% share. The segment is projected to reach
US$ 306.58 billion by 2032 as grocery modernization, frozen food demand, quick commerce, and export-oriented perishables continue to drive cold capacity needs.
Pharmaceuticals contributed
US$ 40.68 billion in 2025 and are projected to reach
US$ 98.95 billion by 2032, growing from a smaller base but carrying above-average strategic importance because pharma customers place a premium on monitoring, validation, and failure prevention.
By Ownership Model
Private cold storage infrastructure generated
US$ 102.53 billion in 2025, representing
55.20% of market revenue, while
public cold storage accounted for
US$ 52.20 billion and
semi-private cold storage contributed
US$ 31.02 billion. By 2032, these segments are projected to reach
US$ 203.17 billion,
US$ 126.52 billion, and
US$ 75.83 billion, respectively. Private ownership remains dominant because large operators continue to invest directly in strategic assets, but public and semi-private formats are gaining relevance as smaller shippers seek access to modern infrastructure without full capital commitment.
Regional Analysis
North America
North America generated
US$ 65.38 billion in 2025, accounting for
35.20% of the global market, and is projected to reach
US$ 137.07 billion by 2032. The region remains the largest near-term revenue pool because it combines institutional capital, high foodservice and grocery cold demand, pharmaceutical requirements, and clear customer preference for modern facilities with automation and energy efficiency. Grand View specifically notes that North America held more than
33.0% share in 2025, which supports its leadership position in this report description.
United States
The
United States represented
US$ 34.29 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach
US$ 73.06 billion by 2032. Growth is being supported by online grocery penetration, foodservice distribution, pharmaceutical cold chain needs, and a clear occupier shift toward higher-spec assets. Policy also matters. The EPA’s refrigerant transition rules under the AIM Act are pushing operators toward lower-GWP systems, which increases retrofit and replacement activity in cold storage warehouses. Major companies shaping growth include Lineage, Americold, NewCold, DHL Supply Chain, and United States Cold Storage.
Europe
Europe generated
US$ 57.03 billion in 2025, or
30.70% of the global market, and is projected to reach
US$ 116.79 billion by 2032. Europe is structurally attractive because regulatory pressure around refrigerants and energy efficiency is accelerating the transition toward modern, better-managed refrigeration assets. The EU’s updated F-gas regime, applicable from September 2024 with several implementing measures active from January 2025, is a direct catalyst for asset renewal and better leak management in refrigeration equipment.
Germany
Germany generated
US$ 13.86 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach
US$ 28.03 billion by 2032. The country is strong because of its role in European food logistics, industrial refrigeration engineering capability, and disciplined warehouse development culture. Germany’s National Circular Economy Strategy and broader climate-policy direction reinforce interest in more efficient, lower-emission cold storage systems, particularly where energy performance and refrigerant transition can be monetized through long-life assets.
France
France accounted for
US$ 10.38 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach
US$ 21.02 billion by 2032. France benefits from a large food distribution network, active refrigerated logistics demand, and the same F-gas-driven technology shift shaping the rest of the EU. French customs and regulatory guidance on fluorinated gases adds an additional compliance layer that favors better-documented, modern refrigeration installations over older high-GWP systems.
Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific generated
US$ 63.34 billion in 2025, equivalent to
34.10% of the global next-generation cold storage market, and is projected to reach
US$ 151.67 billion by 2032, making it the fastest strategic growth region. The region benefits from urban consumption growth, government-backed cold chain investment, food security needs, export logistics, and rapid adoption of automated warehousing in high-volume corridors.
Japan
Japan generated
US$ 15.64 billion in 2025 and is forecast to reach
US$ 37.16 billion by 2032. Japan is one of the best examples of a structural upgrade market because its cold chain is already significant, yet further modernization is being supported by logistics efficiency reforms and continued pressure for better labor productivity and network optimization. Industry data also show refrigerated storage as the leading cold chain service type in Japan in 2025, which supports continued investment in higher-performance facilities.
China
China represented
US$ 22.04 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach
US$ 55.36 billion by 2032. China’s growth is underpinned by state-backed logistics modernization, agricultural cold chain development, and broader policy support for smart, green cold-chain systems. Official planning documents emphasize a modern national cold-chain logistics network, while 2026 monitoring by the International Institute of Refrigeration reported China’s total cold storage capacity at
277 million cubic meters in 2025, up with policy support behind it.
South Korea
South Korea generated
US$ 6.27 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach
US$ 15.47 billion by 2032. The country remains attractive because of high urban density, sophisticated consumer logistics, and growing policy attention to supply-chain stability. The government’s
First Supply Chain Stabilization Basic Plan (2025-2027) is relevant because it signals stronger official focus on resilient logistics infrastructure, although parts of the cold storage market still show vacancy-related stress, underscoring the importance of disciplined next-generation development.
Competitive Landscape
The competitive environment is led by a relatively small group of operators capable of funding and executing highly automated, large-footprint facilities.
Lineage remains the scale leader in temperature-controlled warehousing and continues to expand strategic nodes in the United States.
Americold remains a major institutional player in cold storage logistics and real estate.
NewCold is strongly associated with fully automated, high-throughput facilities and continues to add capacity in North America and Europe.
Nichirei Logistics remains important in Japan and is actively deepening its European footprint.
DHL Supply Chain is increasingly influential in the next-generation segment through partnerships and build-outs tied to advanced cold infrastructure.
Key Company Profiles
Lineage, Inc
Lineage, Inc. focuses on temperature-controlled warehousing, integrated logistics, and network-scale cold storage operations. Its recent development is the completion of the Louisville-Winstead expansion in Kentucky in March 2026, adding more than
84,000 square feet and about
10,400 pallet positions. Its strategy is targeted network densification in markets with proven demand rather than speculative expansion alone.
NewCold
NewCold is one of the clearest embodiments of the next-generation cold storage model, with a business centered on automated warehousing and advanced food logistics. In 2026 it announced a
EUR 100 million automated warehouse in Noblejas, Spain with
65,000 pallet positions, and also announced expansion in McDonough, Georgia. Its strategy is to pair automation with strategically located greenfield sites that can serve large anchor customers efficiently.
Americold Realty Trust
Americold Realty Trust remains a core player through its large cold storage real estate base and integrated logistics positioning. While its 2026 public updates were more focused on leadership and financial results than on a single marquee greenfield project in the retrieved materials, its market role remains significant because it serves institutional customers that increasingly require modernized refrigerated networks. Its competitive posture remains centered on scale, customer integration, and network density.
Nichirei Logistics Group
Nichirei Logistics Group is strategically important in Japan and is increasingly relevant in Europe. In March 2026, Nichirei moved to increase capital in its Dutch subsidiary to fund refrigerated warehouse construction and expansion in Europe. Its strategy is geographic expansion combined with higher value-added low-temperature logistics services.
DHL Supply Chain
DHL Supply Chain is extending its role in the market through partnership-led development. In February 2026, DHL signed an MOU with RLCold to develop more than
5 million square feet of advanced temperature-controlled facilities across North America. Its strategy is not to mirror every incumbent warehouse operator, but to build a scalable next-generation infrastructure position where contract logistics, automation, and customer integration overlap.
Recent Developments
- On April 9, 2026, NewCold broke ground on a new automated warehouse in Noblejas, Spain with 65,000 pallet positions and EUR 100 million in investment. The significance is clear: Europe’s growth is increasingly tied to purpose-built automated assets, not just incremental refrigeration upgrades.
- On March 17, 2026, Lineage announced completion of its Louisville-Winstead facility expansion in Kentucky, adding more than 84,000 square feet and 10,400 pallet positions. This development reinforces continued operator confidence in strategic U.S. nodes where modern cold storage can win demand from older facilities.
- On February 4, 2026, DHL Supply Chain and RLCold announced plans to build more than 5 million square feet of advanced temperature-controlled facilities across North America. This is a strong signal that contract logistics providers increasingly view next-generation cold storage as a core infrastructure category rather than an adjacent service line.
- On March 17, 2026, Nichirei approved a capital increase in its Dutch subsidiary to fund European cold storage warehouse expansion. The strategic effect is to strengthen the competitive intensity of Europe’s premium refrigerated logistics segment while validating the long-term attractiveness of modern cold assets in the region.
Strategic Outlook
The next-generation cold storage market is moving toward a sharper divide between
modern premium assets and
legacy refrigeration space. The premium cohort will capture a disproportionate share of value because tenants increasingly care about energy efficiency, throughput, controls, and compliance as much as raw cubic capacity. That is why the market’s most important question is no longer how much cold space exists, but how much of it is technologically and economically fit for the next decade.
Through 2032, the strongest opportunities should remain concentrated in North American replacement and upgrade cycles, European refrigerant-compliance modernization, and Asia-Pacific capacity expansion linked to smart cold-chain development. The United States will remain the largest single-country revenue pool, while Japan will remain one of the highest-quality modernization markets and China one of the largest scale opportunities. For decision-makers, the practical conclusion is straightforward: capital should favor facilities that combine automation, energy discipline, refrigerant readiness, and digital operating visibility, because those are the characteristics defining the next generation of cold storage economics.
