Audio Library

Project Mercury promises the UK’s first pre-trained, sovereign LLMs James Drayson, Co-Founder & CEO of Locai Labs and Mark Boost, Founder and CEO of Civo, explains how Locai Labs, the UK’s sovereign AI company, and Civo, the British sovereign cloud provider, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to undertake Project Mercury - a programme to build the UK’s first pre-trained, sovereign large language models (LLMs), With the aim of empowering UK enterprises and government with secure, home-grown frontier models designed to drive innovation and accelerate Britain’s AI independence.

Water, not power, the deciding factor for data centre location? Bill Tesarek, President of Alsay, explains that, as Texas accelerates its position as a hub for AI infrastructure, a less visible constraint is beginning to surface: water availability may become the limiting factor for future growth. While most attention remains on power and grid capacity, operators inside water infrastructure systems are seeing early signals that demand tied to AI is scaling faster than the systems designed to support it.

Data centre market at the beginning of a new infrastructure cycle Jake Bush, RLB Head of Supply Chain and Procurement, discusses the findings of the company’s latest data centre trends report, which finds the industry at the beginning of a new infrastructure cycle after a year of recalibration, but success will be determined less by demand and more by the ability to deliver at scale. Jake explains that the future of Europe’s data centre expansion is not dependent on demand, but whether there is the ability to deliver, with structural challenges to the next wave of digital infrastructure including limited access to power, permitting delays and renewed pressure on materials, equipment and specialist labour.

Getting to grips with gigawatt facilities and constrained grid capacity Brad Johnson, Director, Industry Executive for Electric Utilities at Bentley Systems, explains how smart data centre developers are already recognising that real engineering value lives beyond the fence line. Siting decisions, grid interconnection, renewable energy access, road networks, water supply, and substation constraints determine whether a billion-dollar investment performs or fails. Communities hold equal power in that equation - projects are stalling because developers skipped the social license conversation. Happily, as Brad highlights, the engineering intelligence to get this right already exists - the industry needs to use it.

Fuel cells central to Centrica’s power blueprint Robert Booker, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer at Centrica, discusses the company’s ‘Navigating The Energy Labyrinth – the blueprint for power data centres’ report, focusing on the industry’s twin challenges of (steeply) rising power demand and grid constraints/resilience concerns. Robert details the work that Centrica is doing to help data centre owners and operators address this situation, not least via the recently announced infrastructure partnership with Delta Electronics - launching with Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs), licensed by British solid oxide technology leader Ceres, for off-grid energy generation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwRHnLNLByY

PIC100 platform enters high volume production Sylvie Gellida, General Manager, Optical and RF Foundry Division, STMicroelectronics, discusses the implications of the company entering high-volume production of its PIC100 silicon photonics platform to support AI infrastructure demand. With plans to quadruple capacity by 2027, further expand in 2028 and with PIC100 through-silicon via (TSV) on ST’s technology roadmap, the company is delivering the benefits of higher bandwidth, lower latency, and greater energy efficiency as AI workloads surge.

Centrica and Ceres partnership to deliver multi GW on site fuel cell power Phil Caldwell, CEO of Ceres, explains how the collaboration will accelerate the deployment of solid oxide, low carbon, high efficiency, grid-independent on site power solutions, capable of being deployed much faster than gas turbines or nuclear, to meet the multi-gigawatt demand from data centre, commercial and industrial customers across the UK and Europe.

Can Power Grids Keep Up With AI Demand? Craig Wentworth, Research Director at TechMarketView, discusses the key findings of the company’s new report, “AI data centres and energy responsibility: Who really pays for intelligence at scale?”, which highlights how AI infrastructure is increasing pressure on local energy systems and why responsibility for its environmental impact must be shared across hyperscalers, enterprises, and policymakers. Craig looks at the operational and policy risks of AI infrastructure growth, including local grid strain and strategic prioritisation at a national level and explains how enterprise IT leaders can embed sustainability into AI adoption, from workload architecture to deployment planning.

Inspiring the next generation of digital technology talent Rory Flashman-Wells, Co-Founder, National Data Centre Day, and Managing Director at Spa Communications, and Duncan White, Senior Director of Communications & Marketing at AtlasEdge, National Data Centre Day supporting company, discuss the #BackToSchool theme of this year’s National Data Centre Day. With 12th September marking the second year of the NDCD awareness campaign, both Rory and Duncan are excited as to the opportunity to bring data centre education into classrooms over the coming months, ensuring that the UK has the right quality and quantity of digital infrastructure workers ready to deliver the country’s AI-fuelled, sustainable data centre growth programme.

Fleet of 1,000 urban neocloud sites deploying across US by end of 2026 Kiersten Hileman, Available Infrastructure VP of Partner Relations, discusses Project Qestrel, a nationwide fleet of cybersecure, private neocloud edge data centres – the initial phase, to be live by the end of 2026, will span 1,000 individual sites across 100 US cities and more than 30 US states from coast to coast, representing nearly $5 billion in project CapEx at full buildout. Each site will feature full-stack edge deployments of Available's trio of SanQtum solutions: zero trust network, high-performance compute (HPC) infrastructure, and AI inference capability.

Industry under-prepared for surge in AI data centre demand Tim Collier, director and UK data centre lead at Turner & Townsend, explains what’s needed to build confidence in the industry and to deliver data centres on schedule, how to navigate heightened competition for power and skills, and what the company’s latest Data Centre Construction Cost Index – which analyses costs and trends in 52 data centre markets worldwide – reveals for emerging solutions for improving productivity and the complexities of building especially AI data centres.

Cooling-as-a-Service eliminates the complexity of managing the liquid cooling technology loop John Shultz, Chief Product Officer, AI and Learning Officer for Salute, discusses the company’s collaboration with Ecolab, enabling customers to protect their AI investments by reducing complexity and mitigating risks in direct-to-chip (DTC) liquid cooling. Though this collaboration, Ecolab’s Cooling-as-a-Service (CaaS) program will become integral to Salute’s DTC Liquid Cooling Operations Service. Ecolab’s CaaS solves one of the most complex challenges for liquid cooling in data centres by simplifying the management of the technology loop, which is the centrepiece of DTC cooling systems.

110MW microgrid developed for Dublin data centre Ben Pritchard, CEO of AVK, discusses the launch of what is believed to be Europe’s first, large-scale, 110 MW on-site microgrid, developed to support early phase site operational resilience. Located within Pure DC’s Dublin campus, the on site energy system provides the opportunity for dispatchable capacity to support data centre operations during initial development phases, prior to full integration with the national electricity system as grid connection capacity becomes available. Over time, the campus is intended to operate as part of a hybrid energy configuration, combining grid supplied electricity with on site infrastructure designed to enhance flexibility, resilience and system stability.

Community collaboration and transparency - key to data centre success in the AI era Edgar Van Essen, Managing Director, CCO and Partner for Switch Datacenters, outlines a dramatic decline in water use, new cooperative stakeholder models including green residual heat exchange networks, and a clear pathway to reach net-positive impact by 2040, as reported in the company’s 2025 Sustainability Report. With plans for six new builds and more, Edgar highlights how Switch Datacenters is growing its footprint to over 1GW capacity in the coming years while supporting local societies and economies and ensuring the minimum possible impact on the environment. He also explains how the data centre industry can transform its image by pursuing deep integration with local communities and value chains, through collaboration with municipalities, grid operators, and local stakeholders from the earliest planning stages.

What it takes to deliver a data centre Katie Coulson, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Skanska Advanced Technology, discusses the many factors which need to be considered when delivering a data centre design and build, including the weather, available labour, power and water. Katie goes on to explain how modular, repeatable design and construction techniques and the harnessing of AI are helping to address the challenges of delivering new facilities as quickly as possible for the current AI boom.

Switch to a strategic procurement approach when it comes to switchgear Adhum Carter Wolde-Lule, Director at Prism Power Group, highlights the fact that switchgear is fast becoming one of the biggest hidden constraints in UK (and elssehwere) commercial construction - with data centres absorbing enormous volumes of low voltage and medium voltage switchgear, along with AI workloads, hyperscale cloud expansion and government backing of digital infrastructure, demand has raced into a different gear entirely. Adhum explains that, as a result, switchgear is no longer a late-stage procurement item that can be slotted in once the design is largely complete. It has become a critical path risk that requires early design freeze and early engagement with manufacturers.

Two-phase cooling helps maximise AI performance Shahar Belkin, Chief Evangelist at ZutaCore, explains how the company’s OmniTherm™ cold plate enables waterless two-phase cooling for manufacturers building servers with the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition GPUs in a single-slot PCIe form factor - supporting full-power operation in standard enterprise and AI cloud server environments. OmniTherm enables a transition to two-phase liquid cooling without introducing water inside the server. The single-slot design allows operators to increase accelerator density in standard server architectures while capturing heat into a liquid loop, reducing reliance on extreme fan speeds that can create excessive noise, waste power and cause challenging operating conditions in the data centre.

Removing a fundamental bottleneck to AI data centre growth Sean Burke, CEO at Enteligent, positions 800V DC to 50V DC as the ‘missing piece’ in AI data centre power design. While 800VDC distribution solves the upstream limitations of traditional AC infrastructure, converting it directly to a 50VDC server bus within the rack addresses the final conversion bottleneck at the server level. Sean explains that the combination of 800VDC facility distribution with rack-level 800VDC-to-50VDC conversion represents a complete, DC-native power architecture that aligns with the realities of modern data centre requirements.

DACH focus delivers for Portus Falk Weinreich, CEO of Portus Data Centers, discusses the company’s focus on the DACH region, with plans to accelerate expansion of their existing data centre portfolio – most immediately with the construction of additional facilities in Munich and Hamburg.

Lyten’s Swedish battery assets power data centre colocation strategy Keith Norman, Chief Marketing & Sustainability Officer of Lyten, explains the reasons behind the company’s acquisition of Northvolt’s battery assets in Sweden, with the site expected to resume operations and to deliver commercial cells in the second half of this year. Lyten is also establishing the Lyten Industrial Hub in Skellefteå, Sweden to co-locate battery manufacturing, data centres, and additional manufacturing activities - with EdgeConneX planning to acquire a data centre site from Lyten, with potential capacity of up to one gigawatt.

Re-shaping the way data centres secure and manage power Drew Gravitt is Senior Director of Distributed Generation & Microgrid Sales at Mission Critical Group (MCG) explains how the demand for data centres is surging due to AI and digital services and how this is placing increasing strain on existing power infrastructure. With many data centre developers facing long wait times for grid connections, Drew goes on to discuss the ways in which distributed generation and microgrids can help address the ‘time-to-power’ problem.

Ushering in a new era of AI data centre performance Ryan Parker, Phononic's President & COO, discusses the data centre thermal management challenge, the company’s GPU HBM cooling solution and introduces the idea of Thermal Fabric, a real-time thermal control platform that transforms cooling from a reactive cost centre into a system level intelligence layer without the instability tax.

Agentic AI platform accelerates development of critical energy infrastructure Thiri Shwesin Aung, founder and CEO of Nyxium, discusses how she and co-founder, Paul Seurin, have built an agentic AI platform that helps energy and infrastructure developers decide where projects are most likely to get approved and built, before months of time and millions in development costs are committed – set against a background where permitting and siting, not capital or technology, are increasingly determining what actually gets built as AI-driven data centre demand continues to increase.

GRDs help future-proof data centres Matt Wilkins, Global Director of Design and Engineering at Colt DCS, explains that data centre operators need ‘controlled flexibility’ now more than ever, as tightened regulatory environments, skills gaps, grid constraints, and enormous computational intensity, driven by AI, create the perfect storm. Matt believes Global Reference Designs (GRDs) could be the key to deliver future-proof data centres that are both resilient and able to flex in line with demand.

Industry veteran to help scale Stellanor’s urban footprint Howard Pheby, newly appointed Chief Commercial Officer at Stellanor, explains how the company is building something different: urban colocation that serves enterprises where they actually operate, backed by institutional capital to do it at scale. That combination - proximity, capability, and financial strength – is designed to create compelling value for customers navigating hybrid cloud strategies and AI infrastructure requirements.

Start Campus and EDP enter renewable energy agreement Omer Wilson, Chief Marketing Officer of the Start Campus, explains why Start Campus and EDP have signed a strategic partnership marking their shared intention to accelerate next-generation, renewable-powered data centre projects in Portugal, with potential expansion to other markets. The collaboration brings together large-scale digital infrastructure and renewable energy leadership to unlock investment, strengthen system resilience, and position Portugal as a leading hub for sustainable digital growth, fuelled by the current AI explosion.

Sydney seen as the AI sweet spot Paul Christensen, Macquarie Data Centres General Manager, discusses the company’s 47MW IC3 Super West Sydney AI data centre, in the context of its plans to build out some 200MW of AI and cloud capacity in the city. He shares some great insights as to the challenges and opportunities of building out AI data centre infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region, and is confident that Macquarie’s successful data centre track record sees it well positioned to play a key role in the growth of AI and the wider digital economy in Australia.

Services set to define the data centre landscape Phil Cullerton, VP Services EMEA at Vertiv, explains why services will define the future of the data centre. The future of the data centre is not just about who builds fastest, it is about who operates best. And in this evolving landscape of digital transformation / AI density, tightening regulation, stretched supply chains and rising expectations, digital infrastructure services are the differentiator. If you are an operator, the question is no longer whether to invest in services, it is whether you can afford not to.

Pulsant unveils £10 millionhigh-density investment in Milton Keynes data centre Rob Coupland, CEO at Pulsant, discusses the company’s £10 million investment in its Milton Keynes data centre to provide high-density, sovereign compute capacity to support AI transformation, with plans to roll out this high-density model to other key regions.

Orchestrating a renewable future Wannie Park, CEO/founder of LG NOVA-backed PADO, an intelligent energy orchestration platform for data centres, discusses the power consumption pressures of the data centre sector, with renewables offering a way forward - but many data centres don't know how to effectively manage and embed them into existing infrastructure. Wannie explains the technical challenges that come with renewable integration, why investing in new buildout is not sustainable long-term, and best practices for data centres to operate within existing energy constraints amid slow-moving AI regulation and consumer concern.