TL;DR
The leading data center decommissioning companies in 2026 are SK tes, Sims Lifecycle Services, ROC Telecom, Securis, Iron Mountain, Maxxum, CXtec, Apto Solutions, TBS Industries, and Liquidity Services. Selection should be driven by three factors: project urgency (whether you need 48-hour mobilization or can plan over months), project scale (single rack, multi-row retirement, or full-facility shutdown), and whether your priority is compliance documentation, ESG reporting, or capital recovery.
The global data center decommissioning services market reached $12.95 billion in 2026 and is projected to grow at a 7.37% CAGR through 2032, driven primarily by AI infrastructure refresh compression, hardware that was on a 5-to-7-year cycle two years ago is now being retired in 18 to 36 months to free power and floor space for GPU-dense AI fabric.
Most enterprises pick a decommissioning vendor the same way they pick a generic ITAD vendor. That’s a mistake. Decommissioning is a field operation with infrastructure dependencies, compressed timelines, and adjacent-system risk. The right partner for a depot-style end-of-life device program is rarely the right partner for ripping a hyperscale row out of a live facility without taking down production.
How Decommissioning Differs from Standard ITAD
“ITAD” and “data center decommissioning” get used interchangeably in vendor marketing, but they’re structurally different services with different operational profiles.
| Dimension | Standard ITAD | Data Center Decommissioning |
|---|---|---|
| Where work happens | Vendor’s depot facility | Customer’s live data center |
| Typical timeline | 30–90 days | 48 hours to 90 days, often compressed |
| Equipment type | Mixed (laptops, servers, networking) | Racks, rows, full halls, cabling, sub-floor |
| Adjacent risk | None — equipment already out of service | High — adjacent live production rows |
| Skill profile | Logistics + sanitization | Cable mining, slab-to-slab, isolation protocols |
| Documentation | Per-device | Per-asset + per-rack + facility-level |
| Cost profile | Net positive (recovery exceeds cost) | $20K–$30K per week typical, sometimes offsettable |
A depot-only ITAD vendor handling a hyperscale row retirement is operating outside their core competency. They may complete the work, but the risk to adjacent production rows and the recovery value left on the floor make the choice expensive.
How We Selected These 10 Providers
This list isn’t pay-to-play and isn’t alphabetical. Each provider below was evaluated against six criteria that materially separate enterprise-grade decommissioning from generic ITAD with a “decom” service line:
| # | Criterion | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Field operations team (not depot-only) | Decom is a job site, not a receiving dock |
| 2 | Hyperscale or carrier-grade experience | Adjacent-production-row protocols differ from closet retirements |
| 3 | Rapid-response mobilization capability | Compressed timelines are now the norm, not the exception |
| 4 | R2v3 + NIST 800-88 certification | Audit-grade compliance documentation |
| 5 | Asset recovery network depth | Determines whether decom is a cost center or cost-offset |
| 6 | Liquid cooling and AI infrastructure capability | GB200-class systems require procedures most decom teams don’t have |
A vendor that delivers four of six is competent. A vendor that delivers all six is one of a handful.
Comparison Table, 2026
| Provider | HQ | Best For | R2v3 | NIST 800-88 | Hyperscale | 48hr Response | Asset Recovery Depth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SK tes | Singapore (global) | Large multinational programs | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | Deep |
| Sims Lifecycle Services | New York, NY | Global circular economy reporting | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | Moderate |
| ROC Telecom | San Antonio, TX | 48-hour mobilization, cost-offset model, telecom/networking specialty | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Deep |
| Securis | Chantilly, VA | Federal & compliance-heavy programs | ✓ | ✓ | Partial | — | Moderate |
| Iron Mountain | Boston, MA | Multi-site corporate programs | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | Bundled |
| Maxxum | Detroit, MI | Mid-market enterprise refresh | ✓ | ✓ | Partial | — | Moderate |
| CXtec | Syracuse, NY | Networking-focused refresh + decom | ✓ | ✓ | Partial | — | Strong (networking) |
| Apto Solutions | Atlanta, GA | Fortune 500 enterprise programs | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | Moderate |
| TBS Industries | New York, NY | Northeast regional + mid-market | ✓ | ✓ | Partial | — | Moderate |
| Liquidity Services | Bethesda, MD | Auction-led recovery model | ✓ | ✓ | Partial | — | Auction-based |
“Partial” indicates capability is offered but isn’t the provider’s core specialization. Data compiled from public certification registries and vendor disclosures as of 2026.
The 10 Leading Data Center Decommissioning Companies in 2026
1. SK tes, Best for Global Multinational Programs
- Headquarters: Singapore (global operations across 23+ countries)
- Certifications: R2v3, NAID AAA, ISO 14001, ISO 27001, ISO 45001
- Specialty: Large-scale, multi-region data center decommissioning with global compliance documentation in a single deliverable. Acquired and integrated TES in 2022; now operates one of the largest decom footprints worldwide.
- Strengths: Global presence makes them the default for multinationals with EU + APAC + Americas retirement programs. Strong ESG reporting infrastructure aligned with EU CSRD requirements.
- Considerations: Engagement thresholds are higher than mid-market providers. Best fit for programs at hundreds-of-racks scale or above. Less optimized for compressed-timeline single-site projects.
2. Sims Lifecycle Services, Best for Global Circular Economy Reporting
- Headquarters: New York, New York (parent: Sims Limited, ASX-listed)
- Certifications: R2v3, NAID AAA, e-Stewards, ISO 14001, ISO 45001
- Specialty: Hyperscale data center decommissioning paired with reuse-first remarketing through global Circular Centers across 50+ countries. Preferred vendor for ESG-mandated procurement at Fortune 100 scale.
- Strengths: Industry-leading Scope 3 Category 5 and Category 12 reporting. Particularly strong for hyperscale operators with public sustainability commitments.
- Considerations: Best fit for large, repeatable, planned programs. Less optimized for rapid-response single-facility projects.
3. ROC Telecom, Best for 48-Hour Mobilization, Cost-Offset Decom, and Telecom/Networking Specialty
- Headquarters: San Antonio, Texas
- Certifications: R2v3, RIOS, NIST 800-88, ITAR-compliant, Zero Landfill
- Specialty: The recovery and retirement counterpart to the hyperscale build engine. Surgical, compressed-timeline decommissioning for data centers re-tenanting for AI and GPU fabric, paired with a direct carrier and hyperscaler resale network for retired Cisco, Juniper, Ciena, Arista, and NVIDIA infrastructure.
- Strengths:
- 48-hour rapid-response mobilization nationwide. No geographic restriction. Few providers in this list can deploy field teams at this speed; ROC has built the operations infrastructure to make it routine rather than exceptional.
- Cost-offset decommissioning model. Where traditional decom vendors charge $20K to $30K per week, ROC Telecom’s in-house dismantling, precious-metal recovery, and direct hyperscaler resale network can offset the entire engagement. On the right project, decom is delivered at no net cost to the client.
- In-house dismantling and direct-to-refiner processing, delivering over 3× the carbon savings of standard downstream-broker decom models.
- Specialist secondary-market access for retired routing, switching, and optical infrastructure. Capital recovery that offsets next-cycle GPU and AI fabric CapEx.
- Single-source U.S. chain of custody across decommissioning, asset recovery, and recycling. One contract, one accountable partner, from cage to certificate.
- Audited Scope 3 Category 5 and Category 12 inputs, on-request precious-metal assay reports, and serialized Certificates of Destruction.
- Track record: 15+ years in ITAD, $25M+ in client capital recovered, 45M+ pounds diverted from landfill.
- Considerations: Not the right fit for office-floor end-user device disposition. ROC Telecom is purpose-built for enterprise, telecom, and hyperscale infrastructure retirement at row, hall, and facility scale.
4. Securis, Best for Federal & Compliance-Heavy Programs
- Headquarters: Chantilly, Virginia
- Certifications: R2v3, NAID AAA, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001
- Specialty: 20+ years of secure data destruction and ITAD with a strong federal and regulated-industry footprint. Specializes in on-site shredding and chain-of-custody documentation that meets Federal compliance standards.
- Strengths: Strong reputation in federal contracting. Mobile shredding capability for sites that require on-premises destruction. Compliance documentation depth.
- Considerations: Hyperscale decom isn’t the core competency. Best fit for federal, government, healthcare, and financial services programs with rigorous compliance requirements but standard physical scale.
5. Iron Mountain, Best for Multi-Site Corporate Programs
- Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts
- Certifications: R2v3, NAID AAA, ISO 27001, ISO 14001
- Specialty: Multi-national, multi-site corporate decommissioning integrated with records management and secure storage workflows.
- Strengths: Unmatched geographic footprint, mature compliance programs, recognized brand for board-level risk reviews.
- Considerations: Higher cost basis. Asset recovery is bundled rather than specialist-driven; residual value on networking and optical gear can be left on the table.
6. Maxxum, Best for Mid-Market Enterprise Refresh
- Headquarters: Detroit, Michigan
- Certifications: R2v3, NAID AAA, ISO 14001
- Specialty: Mid-market enterprise decommissioning tied to corporate refresh programs. Strong on the planning and project management side of multi-phase retirements.
- Strengths: Good fit for organizations that need decommissioning as part of a broader IT transformation initiative rather than a standalone retirement.
- Considerations: Hyperscale and rapid-response capabilities are not the primary focus. Best fit for planned, phased projects.
7. CXtec, Best for Networking-Focused Refresh + Decom
- Headquarters: Syracuse, New York
- Certifications: R2v3, NAID AAA, ISO 9001
- Specialty: Pre-owned networking equipment refresh paired with decommissioning of retired gear. Strong in Cisco, Juniper, and HPE networking refresh cycles.
- Strengths: Combined refresh-and-retire workflow for organizations replacing networking infrastructure. Reasonable secondary-market access for networking gear specifically.
- Considerations: Optical transport and hyperscale-scale decom aren’t the core focus. Best fit for enterprise networking refresh programs in the mid-market.
8. Apto Solutions, Best for Fortune 500 Enterprise Programs
- Headquarters: Atlanta, Georgia
- Certifications: R2v3, NAID AAA, e-Stewards, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001
- Specialty: Enterprise-grade asset disposition tied to corporate refresh programs; balanced focus on sanitization, value recovery, and recycling.
- Strengths: Strong process maturity for large enterprise programs with predictable cadence.
- Considerations: Networking and optical specialty pricing may not match dedicated carrier-network partners. Hyperscale-specific decom workflows are not the primary offering.
9. TBS Industries, Best for Northeast Regional & Mid-Market
- Headquarters: New York, New York
- Certifications: R2v3, NAID AAA
- Specialty: Northeast U.S. regional data center decommissioning with strong relationships in the financial services corridor.
- Strengths: Regional density and quick response within the Northeast. Strong fit for mid-market financial services data center retirements.
- Considerations: Geographic concentration in the Northeast. Nationwide rapid-response capability is limited compared to providers with multi-region field operations.
10. Liquidity Services, Best for Auction-Led Recovery Model
- Headquarters: Bethesda, Maryland
- Certifications: R2v3, NAID AAA
- Specialty: Decommissioning paired with auction-based asset recovery through their GovDeals, Network International, and AllSurplus marketplaces.
- Strengths: Auction model creates pricing transparency. Useful for organizations that prefer market-driven valuation over negotiated buyback.
- Considerations: Auction settlement timelines vary widely. Best fit for organizations comfortable with variable recovery outcomes in exchange for transparent pricing.
How to Choose the Right Decommissioning Partner
The right provider depends on the shape of your specific project. Use this framework to narrow the field quickly.
| Your Project Profile | What to Prioritize | Provider Type |
|---|---|---|
| Compressed timeline (under 30 days) | 48-hour mobilization, surgical de-racking | ROC Telecom, Sims |
| Hyperscale row or hall retirement | Adjacent-row protection, AI re-tenanting | ROC Telecom, Sims, SK tes |
| Multi-region program (US + EU + APAC) | Global compliance documentation | SK tes, Sims |
| Federal or regulated industry | NAID AAA + sector compliance | Securis, ROC Telecom (ITAR) |
| Networking-heavy retirement | Direct carrier resale network | ROC Telecom, CXtec |
| GPU / AI infrastructure | HBM sanitization, liquid cooling, export controls | ROC Telecom, SK tes |
| Mid-market planned refresh | Project management + standard compliance | Maxxum, Apto, Iron Mountain |
| Capital recovery priority | Specialist secondary-market access | ROC Telecom, Sims, Liquidity Services |
| ESG / Scope 3 priority | R2v3 + mass-balance reporting | ROC Telecom, Sims, SK tes |
The Five Questions to Ask Before Signing a Decom Contract
- What’s your typical mobilization timeline from contract execution to first day on site? Providers that quote 4 to 6 weeks aren’t going to help you in a compressed-timeline scenario. 48 to 72 hours is the rapid-response benchmark.
- How do you protect adjacent live production rows during de-racking? Specific procedures for isolation, cable management, and incident protocols are what separate decom from generic equipment removal.
- Where does data destruction physically occur, and what’s the documentation? Onsite shredding, in-transit destruction, and facility-based destruction carry different risk profiles. NIST 800-88 with serialized Certificates of Destruction is the audit standard.
- Can the decom cost be offset by asset recovery? If yes, ask for specifics on how value flows back. If no, that vendor is operating on a pure cost-recovery model and you’re paying full freight.
- What’s your handling protocol for liquid-cooled GB200-class systems? If they can’t answer this specifically, they don’t have the procedures yet, and they’re going to learn on your equipment.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is data center decommissioning?
Data center decommissioning is the process of shutting down and dismantling a data center facility or portion of a facility. It includes secure data destruction on all storage-bearing assets, surgical de-racking of equipment, cable mining and sub-floor removal, slab-to-slab cleanup, and serialized chain-of-custody documentation through final disposition. Unlike standard ITAD, which typically handles end-of-life devices at a vendor facility, decommissioning is a field operation performed on the customer’s premises, often without disrupting adjacent live production rows.
How much does data center decommissioning cost in 2026?
Traditional data center decommissioning vendors typically charge $20,000 to $30,000 per week of project time, plus logistics and disposal fees. However, providers with strong in-house dismantling and a direct hyperscaler resale network can offset much or all of that cost through recovered value on retired networking, optical, and chassis equipment. On the right project volume, decommissioning can be delivered at no net cost to the client. The total project cost depends on facility size, equipment density, compressed-timeline urgency, and whether asset recovery is part of the engagement.
How long does data center decommissioning take?
Single-row retirements with experienced field teams can be completed in 48 to 72 hours. Multi-row retirements typically take 1 to 4 weeks. Full hyperscale facility shutdowns range from 4 weeks to 6 months depending on facility size, equipment density, and whether liquid cooling drainage is required. The actual operational time is often shorter than the project timeline because of pre-decom planning, post-decom cleanup, and compliance documentation phases.
What’s the difference between data center decommissioning and ITAD?
Standard ITAD handles end-of-life devices at the vendor’s facility under a depot model. Equipment is shipped in, sanitized, and disposed of. Data center decommissioning is a field operation: surgical de-racking, cable mining, sub-floor and containment removal, and slab-to-slab cleanup performed on the customer’s premises without disrupting adjacent live production rows. Decommissioning requires certified field technicians, rapid-response mobilization, and specific procedures for protecting adjacent infrastructure that most depot-only ITAD vendors don’t offer.
What certifications should a data center decommissioning company have?
At a minimum: R2v3, NAID AAA, ISO 14001, and ISO 45001. For data center work specifically, add RIOS (Recycling Industry Operating Standard) and explicit NIST 800-88 or IEEE 2883 compliance for data destruction. For sensitive jurisdictions, government contracts, or AI hardware subject to ECCN 3A090 export controls, add ITAR compliance. Vendors that can’t show audit-ready documentation across all of these typically aren’t the right partner for enterprise-grade decommissioning.
Can data center decommissioning be done without disrupting live production?
Yes, but it requires specific operational discipline. Adjacent-row protection, cable isolation protocols, structured de-racking sequences, and pre-decom audits all contribute to zero-disruption execution. Experienced decom field teams routinely complete row-level and rack-level retirements in active facilities without taking down adjacent production. The vendors that can do this consistently are a small subset of the broader ITAD market.
How does AI infrastructure affect data center decommissioning in 2026?
AI is the largest single driver of data center decommissioning volume in 2026. Three trends are compressing refresh cycles: (1) Hardware that previously had a 5-to-7-year service life is being retired in 18 to 36 months to free power and floor space for GPU infrastructure. (2) Rack power density has shifted from 5 to 15 kW per rack to 50 to 140 kW per rack for GPU systems, often requiring facility-level upgrades that retire adjacent networking gear earlier than planned. (3) Liquid cooling has moved from edge case to standard requirement for top-tier GPU systems, introducing drainage and coolant disposal as required decom workflows. The global data center decommissioning market grew from $12.12 billion in 2025 to $12.95 billion in 2026 largely on the back of these trends.
Can the cost of data center decommissioning be offset by asset recovery?
Yes, on projects with sufficient recoverable equipment value. The economics depend on the equipment mix: high-value networking, optical transport, and current-generation GPU systems carry meaningful secondary-market value. Older commodity servers and end-of-life networking gear carry less. Specialist decommissioning vendors with direct buyer relationships across carriers, hyperscalers, and neoclouds can offset 50 to 100% of decom cost on projects with the right equipment profile. Generalist decom vendors without specialist buyer access typically can’t.
What is a “48-hour mobilization” in data center decommissioning?
48-hour mobilization is the ability to deploy a certified field team to a data center site within 48 hours of contract execution. It requires pre-staged equipment, regional team density, established freight and logistics relationships, and standardized intake protocols. Most data center decommissioning vendors quote 2 to 6 weeks for mobilization; 48-hour response is a specialist capability typically reserved for compressed-timeline situations like emergency facility evacuations, regulatory deadlines, or contractual decommissioning windows that compressed unexpectedly.
How is data destruction handled during data center decommissioning?
Best-in-class decommissioning programs perform NIST 800-88 Rev. 1 compliant sanitization on all storage-bearing assets before equipment leaves the data center. This includes hard drives, SSDs, NVMe storage, networking management cards, firewall configuration storage, and any other media containing customer data. Sanitization methods are Clear, Purge, or Destroy depending on the asset. Each asset receives a serialized Certificate of Destruction. For high-sensitivity environments, on-site shredding is performed before equipment crosses the facility threshold.
The Bottom Line
The data center decommissioning market in 2026 has bifurcated. On one side, a handful of global providers (SK tes, Sims) deliver scale and standardized reporting across multi-region programs. On the other, a smaller group of specialists deliver rapid-response capability, cost-offset economics, and asset recovery depth that materially change the financial profile of a retirement project.
The right partner depends on which side of that line your project sits on. Multi-region planned programs benefit from the scale providers. Single-facility compressed-timeline projects, hyperscale row retirements, AI fabric re-tenanting, and capital recovery on networking and optical gear benefit from the specialist tier.
If you’re choosing between providers, three questions cut through most of the marketing:
- Can they actually mobilize in 48 to 72 hours, or is that aspirational?
- Will decom be a cost line item, or can asset recovery offset it?
- Have they handled liquid-cooled GB200-class systems before, or will they learn on yours?
The right answer to all three is the difference between a controlled retirement and a six-month liability.
About ROC Telecom
ROC Telecom is an R2v3, RIOS, NIST 800-88, and ITAR-compliant data center decommissioning specialist headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. We deliver surgical, compressed-timeline decommissioning for hyperscale and enterprise data centers re-tenanting for AI infrastructure, with 48-hour rapid-response mobilization nationwide and a direct hyperscaler and carrier resale network that often offsets the cost of the engagement entirely. 15+ years in ITAD, $25M+ in client capital recovered, 45M+ pounds diverted from landfill.
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Related reading:
- Top 10 ITAD Companies for Data Center Decommissioning & Asset Recovery in 2026
- How GPU Decommissioning Differs from Standard Server Retirement (2026 Guide)
- How to Sell Decommissioned Network Equipment: The Enterprise Buyer’s Guide for 2026
- How Long Does Networking Equipment Really Last? (2026 Data & OEM Lifecycle Guide)
