Techniques are described for scaling an in-memory data grid to satisfy the needs of client applications requesting data from the in-memory data grid. The in-memory data grid may monitor a variety of factors, such as data traffic or number of received queries from a particular geographical region, to determine whether to create a proximity grid. A proximity grid is an extension of the in-memory data grid that services queries originating from a defined geographic region. Each proximity grid stores data objects relevant to the proximity grid's assigned geographic region. Queries originating from the client applications within the geographic regions are then routed to the corresponding proximity grid for execution. The proximity grid may be terminated when the need of the client applications within the geographic region has subsided.