Exploring Modern Data Centre Design

FiveNines partners on 20MW Morocco data centre

FiveNines Group, a London-based data centre design, engineering, and construction firm, has partnered with Nexus Core Systems to oversee the development of a 20MW data centre near Casablanca, Morocco, designed for high-density AI computing. The facility will use Nvidia’s Vera Rubin Cloud Partner Reference Architecture. FiveNines has been appointed to lead design management, technical governance, consultant coordination, constructability, and procurement strategy. Gerry Curran, CEO of FiveNines Group, says, “We are delighted to partner with Nexus Core Systems in order to construct an advanced data centre in North Africa. "This project will bring together our international data centre expertise with Moroccan architects, engineers, technical advisers, and relevant authorities. It further demonstrates the capability of FiveNines Group to undertake critical infrastructure projects of the highest standard alongside global industry leaders.” FiveNines will coordinate the early-stage development process, covering briefing, feasibility, design strategy, and concept design. The aim is to prepare a coordinated design package for engagement with the relevant authorities and submission of permit applications. Bastian Remmlinger, Head of Infrastructure at Nexus Core Systems, comments, “We are very pleased with the cooperation and services FiveNines Group has provided so far. "Their team has supported us well as we shape the design and delivery approach for the Morocco data centre. We look forward to continuing our work together on this ambitious project.” The project team will also work with lead design consultant Zutari; mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) consultant R&B MEP; and substation delivery partner Fonto Energy. Data centre forms part of wider AI development The 20MW facility will form part of the wider Nexus AI Factory Platform, which is being developed by Nexus Core Systems and its international partners. The platform has a target capacity of 180MW and is intended to run entirely on renewable energy. The Nexus AI Factory was announced in April 2026 at GITEX Africa Morocco in Marrakesh, following the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Moroccan authorities. The project forms part of Morocco’s plans to establish itself as a regional centre for artificial intelligence. FiveNines Group, meanwhile, operates across several international markets, including northern and central Europe. The UK-headquartered company recently announced the completion of a 9.6MW data centre in Austria for a hyperscale client.

Navitas, Microchip develop 800V reference design

Navitas Semiconductor, a US maker of gallium nitride and silicon carbide power chips for AI data centres, and semiconductor manufacturer Microchip Technology have collaborated on an 800V DC-to-6V DC reference design for AI data centre rack power applications. As AI data centres scale to support high-power GPU clusters, the industry is moving towards 800V DC rack power architectures to improve distribution efficiency, increase power density, and support higher-power server designs. The reference design combines Microchip’s digital power control and security technologies with Navitas’s gallium nitride (GaN) power devices. The companies say it provides developers with a route to implementing power conversion aligned with the Open Compute Project (OCP) 800V DC standard. The reference platform includes hardware, software, and design documentation intended to support the development of 800V DC power conversion systems. Joe Thomsen, Corporate Vice President of Microchip's Digital Signal Controller Business Unit, says, "AI infrastructure optimisation is driving one of the most significant power architecture transitions the data centre industry has experienced in decades. "As the ecosystem moves towards higher-voltage rack power systems, developers need proven building blocks that help reduce design risk and accelerate innovation. "Our collaboration with Navitas brings together complementary technologies to help customers navigate this transition and bring next-generation power solutions to market more quickly." Direct 800V-to-6V conversion The reference platform uses Microchip’s digital signal controllers and hardware security technology alongside Navitas’s GaN power devices. The primary side uses 16 GaN FETs in a stacked half-bridge topology. The dual-side-cooled package is designed to reduce thermal resistance, supporting higher continuous power operation. The power delivery board targets peak efficiency of up to 96% at full load, with a switching frequency of 1MHz and a power density of 2,100W/in³. The low-profile design is intended to enable close integration with GPU boards, supporting transient performance and power distribution efficiency. The design uses direct conversion from 800V DC to 6V DC, combining the 800V DC-to-50V DC and 50V DC-to-6V DC conversion stages into a single converter. The reference design also incorporates Microchip’s hardware-based security technology to support authentication and protection within power infrastructure. The technology supports functions including secure boot, Message Authentication Code generation, trusted firmware updates, key management protocols including Transport Layer Security (TLS), and other root-of-trust operations. It will be showcased at Microchip’s OCP Event in San Jose, California, USA, from 12–15 October 2026, and a reference board, software, and supporting documentation will also be provided to help developers evaluate 800V DC power conversion systems for AI data centre applications.

GreenScale publishes data centre grid design guidance

GreenScale, a developer of hyperscale data centre campuses, has published open-source design requirements to help data centre operators adapt mechanical and electrical (M&E) infrastructure to variable AI loads and evolving grid codes. The document, Grid & AI Load Compatibility: System Design Requirements for AI Load, Grid Code & Fault Ride-Through, was developed with contributions from vendors, partners, and independent experts. It outlines considerations for managing variable AI power demand, meeting grid connection requirements, complying with fault ride-through rules, supporting demand response, and adapting to future changes in grid codes and tenant load profiles. GreenScale says the guidance is intended to give operators a practical starting point for developing their own designs, reducing duplicated work and helping the industry progress towards compliance. Fault ride-through requirements are emerging as data centres become more significant participants in the electricity system, where grid stability is a shared objective. However, grid codes vary by region and continue to evolve, leaving no widely adopted common specification for data centre power systems to be designed and tested against. Liam Newcombe, SVP Product, Energy Strategy and Innovation at GreenScale, notes, “The deployment of AI requires data centres to move from being simple customers of the electricity grid to participants in the grid. "Data centres as a class are now large enough to impact grid stability, which means facilities need to adapt, incorporating capabilities such as fault ride-through to ensure this impact is positive, resulting in a resilient, stable grid. "The task is no longer simply to protect the IT equipment from the grid, but to meet the combined requirements of the IT equipment, data centre infrastructure, and electricity grid. “This document is published as a work in progress. It provides an initial approach that we hope others in the industry will test, challenge, and improve. By publishing it open-source, we hope to provide a useful starting point for others, sharing our learnings both direct and from our contributors.” Addressing evolving grid requirements The guidance promotes a base system design that accounts for foreseeable operating conditions, including load- and site-specific constraints that affect design, equipment selection, and specification. Examples include specifying uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems with fault ride-through capabilities and mechanical equipment able to operate across required voltage and frequency ranges. Liam says adaptability was a central principle, as AI load profiles, grid codes, and flexibility requirements continue to develop. The guidance aims to help project teams make proportionate decisions now and reduce the risk of costly equipment changes later. GreenScale suggests that modelling, technical data, and design knowledge developed through early projects could also be transferable to future data centre developments. The document is released under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) licence, allowing companies and individuals to use and build upon it under the licence terms. GreenScale is inviting data centre operators, designers, engineering consultants, utilities, technology providers, and independent experts to review and reuse the document, as well as to contribute to further industry discussion. For more from GreenScale, click here.

UK data centre lighting market to reach £130m

The UK data centre lighting market is projected to reach around £130 million by 2030, more than doubling from approximately £54 million in 2024, according to UK commercial lighting manufacturer Whitecroft Lighting. As the UK has become a major location for European data centre development, the company notes there has been an increasing demand for lighting and mechanical and electrical (M&E) infrastructure. Data centre lighting currently represents around 6% of the UK commercial lighting market. Based on the projected 2030 market value, this could rise to around 14%, exceeding the shares attributed to commercial offices and entertainment and leisure lighting (both at 13%) and education lighting (at 11%). Whitecroft estimates that the wider market will grow from £13 billion to £32 billion over the next four years, with the expansion of AI contributing to demand. “The unprecedented growth of the UK data centre market presents both big opportunities and challenges to lighting manufacturers,” says Richard Williams, Head of Strategic Projects at Whitecroft Lighting. “It’s impossible to ignore a growing £32 billion market on your doorstep. To put that in perspective, the entire capital investment budget for NHS estates is around £10 billion this year. “However, data centres present a unique environment, both in their complexity and scale, with developers facing systemic challenges, such as access to the grid and renewable energy, technical resilience, and access to water for cooling all taking precedence over more traditional construction and M&E.” Data centre projects create larger lighting contracts Richard explains that the value of data centre lighting relative to construction costs is lower than in typical commercial buildings. He continues, “As a result, Whitecroft’s Strategic Projects team have calculated that the value of data centre lighting, when compared to the overall cost of construction, is 60% lower than for a typical commercial building. “However, such is the size of the latest multi-billion-pound hyperscale data centres that larger manufacturers, such as Whitecroft Lighting, can offset this by fulfilling big, varied contracts.” Whitecroft says it has increasingly focused on large infrastructure projects where security and resilience are key considerations. In 2022, it secured a contract to design and manufacture LED lighting for Hinkley Point C, supplying 40,000 luminaires. The company also supplied £3 million of lighting for Manchester Airport’s Terminal 2 redevelopment, providing 25,000 lights. Whitecroft has since secured contracts to supply lighting for two data centres, one in Portugal and another near Frankfurt, Germany. The company is one of 13 specialist lighting brands within the European Fagerhult Group. Several brands within the group are collaborating on data centre projects across Europe, including Veko Lightsystems in the Netherlands.

atNorth to power Danish food production with surplus heat

atNorth, a Nordic high-density data centre provider, is partnering with investment firm Selected Group to reuse surplus heat from its DEN02 data centre campus in Ølgod, Denmark, to support a large-scale greenhouse development. The project will use heat generated by the data centre to support local food production, with the first phase of the greenhouse development expected to be completed in Q3 2028. The development will be located on land adjacent to the DEN02 site and is intended to support year-round production of fresh fruit and vegetables in Denmark. Most fresh fruit and vegetables sold in Denmark are currently imported, particularly during winter when domestic production is limited by the climate. The project is intended to reduce reliance on imported produce and support a more resilient local food supply. The partnership forms part of atNorth's approach to incorporating heat reuse into data centre developments, connecting digital infrastructure with local agriculture. Surplus heat to support local production The first phase of the greenhouse development intends to use surplus heat from DEN02 to reduce the carbon emissions associated with conventional fossil-fuelled greenhouse heating. The project is also expected to create jobs during construction and ongoing operations, whilst providing additional economic activity in the Ølgod area. The greenhouse development is designed to expand alongside the DEN02 campus, creating an integrated site combining data centre infrastructure with agricultural production. Eyjólfur Magnús Kristinsson, CEO at atNorth, says, “This partnership demonstrates exactly what responsible digital infrastructure should look like. "By collaborating with forward-thinking organisations like Selected Group, we can transform surplus heat into a valuable resource that supports local food production, reduces carbon emissions, and strengthens community resilience. DEN02 is designed to integrate into Ølgod's community, and this project exemplifies this.” Peter Nielsen, CEO of Selected Group, adds, “Every unit of surplus heat should create value. By partnering with atNorth to convert surplus heat into local food production, we are demonstrating how digital infrastructure can strengthen food security while reducing emissions. "Reducing dependence on imported produce strengthens national food resilience, shortens supply chains, and removes the emissions associated with transporting fresh produce across borders. We believe this model can be replicated wherever large-scale data centers are built.” The announcement follows atNorth's partnership with Vestforbrænding to reuse surplus heat from its DEN01 data centre for the local district heating network. atNorth also works with Kesko Corporation in Finland to provide heat for a local shop, and with Stockholm Exergi at its SWE01 campus to supply heat for local homes and businesses. For more from atNorth, click here.

Schneider, AMD publish AI data centre reference design

Global energy technology company Schneider Electric and AMD, an American multinational semiconductor company, have released a jointly developed reference design for the AMD Helios rack-scale platform, providing data centre operators with a framework for deploying high-density AI infrastructure. The reference design is the first outcome of the companies' collaboration and is intended to simplify the planning and deployment of AI data centres by providing a validated approach to power, cooling, and IT infrastructure. It supports the AMD Helios platform, which combines AMD Instinct GPUs, AMD EPYC CPUs, AMD Pensando networking technology, and the ROCm software ecosystem. As AI workloads continue to increase power density and cooling requirements, the reference design aims to help operators reduce deployment complexity by offering a tested blueprint covering facility power, facility cooling, IT space, and lifecycle software. Framework targets high-density AI deployments According to the companies, the reference design supports modular AI clusters with up to 10.4MW of IT capacity for greenfield developments and rack densities of up to 246kW. It also outlines liquid cooling approaches using Schneider Electric's Motivair coolant distribution units (CDUs) alongside hybrid air and liquid cooling systems capable of removing up to 84% of generated heat. The design incorporates digital modelling and monitoring tools - including ETAP, EcoStruxure IT Design, and AVEVA's Unified Operations Center - to support infrastructure planning, performance monitoring, predictive maintenance, and operational management. Manish Kumar, Executive Vice President, Secure Power & Data Centers at Schneider Electric, says, "Today, organisations require comprehensive, AI-ready reference designs that can take them from planning to deployment faster and with less risk. "Through our collaboration with AMD, we're delivering an engineering-backed reference design that bridges the gap between advanced AI compute platforms, energy tech, and real-world data centre implementation, enabling customers to deploy scalable, high-density AI environments with greater confidence, efficiency, and speed." Forrest Norrod, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Data Center Solutions Business Group at AMD, adds, "AI infrastructure is rapidly moving to full-scale AI factories and that requires compute, networking, power, and cooling to be designed together from the start. "AMD Helios provides an open, rack-scale architecture built to deliver the performance, efficiency, and flexibility required for next-generation AI workloads. By working with Schneider Electric to create a validated reference design, we are giving customers a practical blueprint to accelerate high-density AI deployments, reduce integration risk, and scale with greater confidence and efficiency." The reference design has been validated to ANSI standards for deployments in the United States, with support for IEC standards planned for future international implementations. For more from Schneider Electric, click here.

Schneider research examines AI data centre maintenance

Global energy technology company Schneider Electric has published new research examining the role of condition-based maintenance (CBM) in supporting AI-era data centres. The IDC whitepaper, The Self-Aware Datacenter: How Condition-Based Maintenance Turns Fragmented, Multi-Vendor Datacenters into Predictable Infrastructure and System Intelligence, explores how increasing rack densities, multi-vendor environments, and shortages of skilled technicians are influencing maintenance strategies. According to the report, traditional, calendar-based maintenance is becoming less effective as data centre infrastructure becomes more complex. Instead, it highlights condition-based maintenance, which uses continuous monitoring and predictive analytics to identify potential equipment issues before failures occur. Jerome Soltani, Global Head of Services at Schneider Electric, says, "By combining remote monitoring capabilities with AI-assisted orchestration, you can gain insights regarding the health of your assets and systems, and get an early identification of abnormal behaviour that might precipitate a failure. "This ensures that downtime is minimised, but also that equipment that is working within specification is not disturbed or needlessly addressed." Research highlights growing operational challenges The whitepaper states that AI deployments are increasing rack power densities well beyond those typically found in conventional data centres, while mergers, acquisitions, and brownfield developments are creating more complex, multi-vendor environments. It also highlights the shortage of skilled engineers as a growing operational challenge, citing research indicating that demand for qualified personnel continues to outpace supply in many markets. According to IDC, organisations adopting AI-assisted CBM have reported reductions in manual interventions, operational expenditure, and unplanned downtime, alongside improvements in asset lifespan and operational efficiency. Luis Fernandes, Senior Research Manager at IDC and author of the whitepaper, explains, "Condition-based maintenance is an optimised operating model for AI-era infrastructure that reduces manual interventions, lowers OpEx, and extends asset lifecycle. "By scaling predictive analytics to correlate behaviour across every vendor, asset, and failure trajectory, CBM enables operators to build machine-driven, human-validated system intelligence." For more from Schneider Electric, click here.

Black & White Engineering expands into Spain

Data centre design consultancy Black & White Engineering has expanded its European operations with the opening of a new office in Madrid, strengthening its presence in Spain's growing data centre market. The new office will support increasing demand from data centre clients across Europe, providing civil, structural, MEP, and design management expertise from a local base. The Madrid operation will be led by Hector Hernandez (pictured above), Area Director, Spain, while Marcos Uttley has been appointed Regional Director, Europe, with responsibility for supporting the consultancy's growth across southern Europe. Marcos says, "Spain is an important market for data centre investment and gives us a strong base from which to support clients locally and across wider Europe. The Madrid office reflects our continued focus on building depth in key markets while drawing on the technical experience of our global team." Strengthening support for Europe's data centre market Hector Hernandez brings more than 20 years' experience in data centre and critical infrastructure engineering, having worked on projects across Europe, the Middle East, Australia, and the Americas. His experience spans hyperscale and colocation facilities, including advisory, design, construction, commissioning, and operational delivery. He comments, "The opportunity to build Black & White Engineering's presence in Spain from the ground up was a major draw. The market here is developing quickly and clients need advisors who understand both the technical demands of these projects and the local delivery environment." An Accredited Tier Designer by the Uptime Institute, Hector will work with the company's wider European leadership team as it continues to expand its operations in Spain. For more from Black & White Engineering, click here.

Schneider calls for collaboration on London data centres

Global energy technology company Schneider Electric has brought together organisations from across the public and private sectors to discuss the infrastructure challenges facing London's data centre market and the collaboration needed to support future AI growth. Held in partnership with Opportunity London and SEGRO, the roundtable explored how London can maintain its position as Europe's largest data centre hub while addressing growing demand for digital infrastructure. The event, chaired by Laura Citron, Chief Executive of London & Partners, included representatives from government, local authorities, energy companies, data centre operators, real estate, and the wider technology sector. Participants discussed the need for greater coordination around planning, electricity infrastructure, land availability, water use, and emerging technologies such as liquid cooling. The discussions also highlighted the importance of improving understanding of data centre requirements among policymakers as demand for AI and cloud infrastructure continues to grow. The roundtable also examined the role of data centres as critical national infrastructure (CNI) and their contribution to economic growth and AI development. Industry highlights need for coordinated infrastructure planning Matthew Baynes (pictured above), Vice President, Secure Power UK & Ireland at Schneider Electric, says, "Today, there remains a fundamental gap between how policymakers perceive and understand data centres [and] how the industry actually operates. "Decisions around planning, land allocation, and power provision are being made without a complete picture of what's required to meet the AI opportunity, and the UK now risks losing ground to markets where that understanding is far more mature. "As the UK's largest data centre hub, and its default AIGZ, London offers all the advantages needed to lead, but closing the gap between ambition and action is not optional; it is the prerequisite for success." Jace Tyrrell, Chief Executive of Opportunity London, adds, "Data centres are no longer a niche; they are foundational to London’s future economic growth, AI ambitions, and global competitiveness." Maria Jose Rivas-Duarte, Director of Sustainability at Pure Data Centres, also says the discussions demonstrated the importance of collaboration between industry, policymakers, and local communities to support responsible digital infrastructure development, while Luisa Cardani, Head of the Data Centres Programme at techUK, notes the UK's data centre sector has significant potential to contribute to economic growth, but that achieving this will require coordinated action between government and industry. For more from Schneider Electric, click here.

Supermicro reveals Arm-based AI infrastructure

Supermicro, a provider of application-optimised IT systems, has announced a new portfolio of rack-scale infrastructure platforms based on Arm AGI CPUs, targeting enterprise AI and agentic AI workloads. The company says the systems have been designed to address increasing demand for compute capacity while improving energy efficiency and rack density within existing data centre environments. The new platforms combine Arm's Neoverse CSS V3-based CPU architecture with Supermicro's Data Center Building Block Solutions (DCBBS) approach, which integrates servers, storage, networking, cooling, and rack infrastructure. Charles Liang, President and CEO of Supermicro, says, "Supermicro continues to lead the industry when it comes to deploying new and innovative rack-scale solutions that maximise performance and efficiency. "Our DCBBS technology stack delivers end-to-end data centre solutions of any size, which, combined with the new density and efficient, performance-optimised Arm AGI CPU microarchitecture, helps enterprises realise significant TCO savings on their agentic AI infrastructure investments." The launch includes air-cooled and liquid-cooled server platforms designed for AI inference, AI training, cloud computing, and high-density enterprise workloads. Among the systems announced are a dual-socket 2U server for compute-intensive applications, a 5U GPU server supporting up to eight double-width GPUs, a liquid-cooled multi-node platform for rack-scale deployments, and a single-socket edge-focused server design. Focus on rack density and energy efficiency According to Supermicro and Arm, the infrastructure has been developed to maximise performance per watt and increase compute density for AI environments. Arm says its AGI CPU architecture features up to 136 cores per processor and is designed to support large-scale AI orchestration workloads through increased memory bandwidth, expanded memory capacity, and scalable I/O capabilities. The companies state that deployments can exceed 6,000 CPU cores within a single air-cooled rack, while larger Open Compute Project-based configurations can support significantly higher densities. Mohamed Awad, Executive Vice President, Cloud AI Business Unit at Arm, says, "Agentic AI is driving a fundamental shift in infrastructure requirements, where efficiency, scalability, and orchestration performance are becoming just as critical as raw compute. "By combining Arm AGI CPUs with Supermicro's rack-scale system expertise, we're enabling infrastructure designed to deliver higher AI throughput, maximum compute density, and improved data centre economics at scale." Supermicro says the platforms are intended to help organisations deploy AI infrastructure while making more efficient use of available data centre space, power, and cooling resources. The announcement expands Supermicro's portfolio of AI-focused infrastructure as demand continues to grow for high-density computing environments capable of supporting increasingly complex AI workloads. For more from Supermicro, click here.