News

Equinix, A2A to heat Milan via district heating

Equinix, a US global data centre and interconnection services provider, and A2A, Italy’s second-largest energy operator, have announced a partnership to recover waste heat from a data centre campus near Milan and use it to supply the city's district heating network. The project will recover heat generated by servers at Equinix's campus in Settimo Milanese and transfer it to a new energy centre developed by A2A. The recovered heat will then be used to provide heating across parts of Milan. Equinix will design and manage the system used to export heat from the campus, working with customers whose IT equipment generates the thermal energy. A2A's new energy centre will use four large-scale heat pumps with a combined capacity of 72MW, together with two thermal storage systems capable of storing 6,000m³ of water. The facility will connect to Milan's district heating network via dedicated heat transport infrastructure. Once fully operational, the project is expected to recover up to 225GWh of thermal energy each year. According to the companies, this will increase the amount of heat distributed through A2A's district heating network by around 20%, providing enough energy to heat more than 21,000 homes. The partners also estimate the scheme will avoid more than 345,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions. Heat recovery supports district heating expansion As part of the project, A2A will expand Milan's district heating network, enabling recovered heat from the data centre to be supplied across a wider area of the city, including the Duomo and Palazzo Reale, which are already connected to the network. Adaire Fox-Martin, CEO and President of Equinix, comments, "Equinix has a long and proud history of aligning the needs of our business with the needs of the communities we call home. "Our collaboration with A2A is a clear example of how essential digital infrastructure and local sustainability goals can work in service of each other. By putting thermal energy from our operations to use for local homes and residents, we're eliminating waste and moving Milan towards a low-carbon future." Emanuela Grandi, Managing Director of Equinix Italy, adds, "Excess heat is a by-product of the processing power required for digital transformation and AI, but when we redistribute it to the areas surrounding our data centres, we can create tremendous value for our communities while reducing the overall energy needed to heat the area. "We are very proud of the efforts and achievements Equinix has done in blazing a trail for data centre heat export in Europe and we're applying learnings from our successes to our efforts in Italy. "By scale, this initiative in Italy is expected to become among the largest data centre heat export projects in Europe outside the Nordics." Renato Mazzoncini, CEO of A2A, concludes, "Data centres are strategic infrastructure for the competitiveness of the country and for supporting the digital transformation of the economy. "Their growth requires models capable of combining technological innovation, energy efficiency, and environmental sustainability. From this perspective, heat recovery is a key lever for maximising the value of digital hubs and accelerating the decarbonisation of cities. "The collaboration with Equinix is fully aligned with our strategy to develop an integrated ecosystem where energy, infrastructure, and innovation operate synergistically." The companies say the partnership forms part of wider efforts to support the decarbonisation of urban energy systems through the reuse of waste heat generated by digital infrastructure. For more from Equinix, click here.

DCNN reports from Johnson Controls' 'Innovation Studio'

Johnson Controls, a global provider of smart building technologies, brought its travelling Innovation Studio to London between 23 and 26 June, one stop on a 44-city tour taking the company's building technologies portfolio directly to customers, partners, and media across Europe. DCNN was invited along to step inside the mobile showcase and sit down with John Foley, General Manager, North West Europe at Johnson Controls, whose day job involves leading the company's HVAC team, but whose knowledge stretches across every industry the business serves. The Innovation Studio itself is the physical expression of an idea Johnson Controls has been mulling for some time: how do you take the collective expertise scattered across the business's European operations and put it in front of every market at once? John told us, "All of this information, intellectual property, and, more importantly, the experts that come with it are so diffused all around Europe." The tour, he explains, grew out of conversations between the company's EMEA marketing leadership about how to concentrate that firepower and take it on the road. It is, by his own admission, a fairly bold departure for a company of Johnson Controls' size, but the early results have surprised even the team behind it. "The engagement with our customers so far has been unbelievable," he continued, adding that appetite has varied (sometimes counterintuitively) from city to city, but has been strong across the board. Three pillars, one thermal chain To understand why a HVAC and controls business is investing so heavily in this kind of outreach now, John points to a set of strategic priorities set out by Johnson Controls' chief executive in November 2025: decarbonising the existing built environment, winning in critical environments such as pharmaceutical and biologics production, and enabling what he calls "the future AI economy". It is that third pillar that explains the data centre focus of the London leg. Johnson Controls has served data centres in one form or another for decades, spanning fire and security, heating and cooling, and building automation. What has changed, John says, is the scale of capital and engineering attention now being directed at the sector as a result of AI-driven growth. The company's pitch to the market has also shifted. "Our right to win in a data centre, it's not just about cooling; it's actually about our ability to own and also command the entire thermal management chain," he suggested. That means everything from extracting heat at the chip via liquid cooling plates, through rejection and plant-level cooling, all orchestrated through building automation systems. Heat that does not go to waste One strand of the conversation that stood out was waste heat reuse, an area in which John argues Johnson Controls' combined HVACR capability (he is careful to stress the "R" for refrigeration) gives it an edge over cooling specialists. The company's heat pumps, manufactured at its Sabroe facility in Aarhus, Denmark, are already being used across parts of Europe to funnel heat recovered from data centres into district heating networks serving tens of thousands of homes, a practice some Scandinavian countries now effectively mandate for new data centre developments. John, who lived in Norway for four years, is candid that the UK lags behind on this front. "It's quite frustrating… it's embarrassing," he remarked, though adding that he also sees plenty of opportunity ahead as the conversation matures. What was on show That thermal chain philosophy was reflected in the technology on display inside the studio. On the digital side, OpenBlue, Johnson Controls' AI-powered smart building platform, was positioned as the connective layer tying data, insight, and outcomes together across a building's systems, built on the Metasys building automation and controls backbone, alongside the EasyIO Neo controller range and the Webeasy front end. On the mechanical side, the YORK YVAM air-cooled magnetic bearing chiller was a centrepiece, aimed squarely at hyperscale and colocation cooling loads and built to run efficiently across a wide ambient range without relying on free-cooling coils, alongside the YCPB heat pump range for lower-carbon heating and cooling. Representing the industrial refrigeration side of the business, the Sabroe DualPAC combines the company's ChillPAC and HeatPAC units into a single modular heat pump, aimed at applications needing both cooling and high-temperature heat output efficiently. Bringing it to the UK Wrapping up, John returned to the purpose of the tour itself: getting Johnson Controls' engineers and technology in front of customers who might otherwise only encounter the brand through a single product line. Given the scale of change facing UK data centre operators, from AI-driven density increases to mounting pressure on energy and water use, it is a conversation that feels timely, and one that DCNN expects to keep returning to as the Innovation Studio continues its European run. For more from Johnson Controls, click here.

EUDCA reaffirms sustainability commitment

The European Data Centre Association (EUDCA), the representative body of the European data centre community, has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting climate-neutral data centres and the sustainable growth of Europe's digital infrastructure. The organisation says it remains focused on developing a digital economy that balances increasing demand for digital services with environmental sustainability and closer integration with Europe's energy system. Founded in 2012, the EUDCA works with the data centre industry, policymakers, and other stakeholders to support the development of Europe's digital infrastructure. As a co-founder of the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact, the association has committed to helping the sector achieve climate neutrality by 2030. This includes improving energy efficiency, increasing the use of renewable energy, reducing water consumption, supporting circular economy initiatives, and encouraging the reuse of waste heat. Over recent years, the EUDCA has worked with the European Commission and industry partners on policies intended to support both digital infrastructure growth and environmental objectives. Energy integration and grid capacity On 3 June 2026, the EUDCA joined the European Commission, Commissioner Dan Jørgensen, and organisations from across the energy sector in signing a Declaration of Intent to support the sustainable integration of data centres into the European energy system. The declaration highlights the need for reliable low-carbon electricity, closer collaboration between data centre operators, grid operators, and public authorities, and a stable regulatory environment to support future investment. The association also says that expanding Europe's digital infrastructure will depend on addressing wider challenges within the electricity system, including reinforcing transmission and distribution networks, streamlining planning and permitting processes, and improving access to low-carbon electricity. Michael Winterson, Secretary General of the EUDCA, comments, "We reaffirm our commitment to sustainability, irrespective of technological developments or changing demands. A liveable, equitable, and sustainable future remains our utmost goal." The EUDCA's annual State of European Data Centres report also tracks the sector's sustainability and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance using member data and information collected under the European Energy Efficiency Directive. For more from the EUDCA, click here.

What European data sovereignty means for data centre tools

In this exclusive article for DCNN, Swiss privacy technology company Proton Mail examines why evolving European data sovereignty requirements are forcing data centre operators to reassess the tools they use to manage infrastructure, store operational data, and demonstrate regulatory compliance: Data sovereignty moves into the data centre For most data centre teams, the concept of data sovereignty has lived at a comfortable arm's length. It was something legal worried about, something the sales team put in proposals, something that got mentioned at vendor briefings before the coffee break. But that distance is collapsing, and fast. The European Union's regulatory architecture around data has shifted from a set of compliance checkboxes into something far more structural. GDPR established the foundations; the EU Data Act, the Data Governance Act, and the ongoing ripple effects of transatlantic legal friction (particularly the tensions created by the US CLOUD Act) have built several more floors on top of it. The result is a framework that increasingly determines not just what data your organisation holds, but which tools you are permitted to use to manage, transfer, share, and store it. This has direct, practical consequences for data centre operations teams. The monitoring platform you log into each morning, the cloud storage your engineers use to share runbooks, the ticketing system where incidents are logged, the collaboration suite where shift handovers happen: if any of these tools are operated by a company headquartered outside the EU, they may now carry a compliance risk that regulators are no longer prepared to overlook. As explored in a broader look at why data security is no longer optional, the costs of underestimating this shift go well beyond fines. The sovereignty problem in plain terms Data sovereignty, at its core, is the principle that data generated within a jurisdiction should remain subject to that jurisdiction's laws, regardless of where it is physically stored or which company's servers it sits on. In the EU context, this means that personal data relating to European citizens and businesses should not be accessible to foreign governments or legal systems without going through EU legal channels and oversight. The complication arises from the US CLOUD Act, signed into law in 2018. This legislation grants US authorities the power to compel American technology companies to hand over data, even data stored on servers in Europe, without necessarily requiring a formal mutual legal assistance treaty process. For a European organisation using a US-headquartered SaaS provider, this creates what regulators have called an active legal paradox: data that appears to be stored safely in an EU data centre may still be legally accessible to a non-EU government. It is a risk that regulators across France, Germany, the Netherlands, and beyond are treating with increasing seriousness. Enforcement actions against US cloud providers by national data protection authorities have grown steadily, and the appetite for leniency is diminishing. Where operations teams feel it The challenge for data centre teams is that the operational tooling that makes modern facilities function efficiently has, over the past decade, migrated almost entirely into the cloud - and largely into platforms operated by American technology companies. This was a rational progression: the tools were excellent, the pricing was competitive, and the compliance requirements, while present, were manageable. That calculus is changing. The categories of software that carry the most exposure include: • DCIM platforms — If telemetry, asset data, or incident records are routed through non-EU cloud infrastructure, they may be subject to foreign access requests. • Ticketing and ITSM systems — Incident logs can contain sensitive operational and customer data, and where these records are stored and processed matters legally. • Collaboration and file-sharing tools — Runbooks, change documentation, and engineering notes shared via US-headquartered platforms may not satisfy GDPR data processing requirements. • Monitoring and observability platforms — Network performance data, access logs, and infrastructure health metrics can constitute sensitive data under certain regulatory interpretations. • Email and calendar services — Operational communications may be covered by data residency requirements, particularly in regulated sectors such as finance or healthcare. The question teams are increasingly being asked by compliance officers, enterprise customers during audits, and regulators during inspections is not simply "is this data encrypted?" but "under whose legal jurisdiction does this data sit, and who could compel access to it?" Industry voices have been making this point for some time, as reflected in commentary gathered on Data Privacy Day, where the emphasis fell squarely on building repeatable operational controls rather than chasing individual compliance milestones. The sovereign cloud push The response from the market has been a wave of "sovereign cloud" offerings: architecture models where infrastructure, operational staff, and legal entities are all resident within the EU, and where data is contractually and technically ringfenced from parent-company access in non-EU jurisdictions. Several major hyperscalers have invested heavily in these products. Microsoft's EU Data Boundary, Google's Sovereign Controls, and AWS's EU Sovereign Cloud are all attempts to provide assurances that European data will not traverse US legal jurisdiction. Whether these assurances are sufficient, given that the parent companies remain subject to US law, remains contested amongst legal scholars and regulators. Germany and France, in particular, have pushed back on the idea that a US company's technical commitments can fully override a foreign court order. The EU's Gaia-X initiative represents the most ambitious attempt to build a native alternative: a federated, interoperable digital infrastructure that reduces dependency on non-European hyperscalers entirely. Progress has been slower than its architects hoped, but the framework it has established around transparency, portability, and provenance of data is increasingly influencing procurement decisions at large European enterprises and public sector bodies. The physical reality of where infrastructure actually sits remains critical to all of this, a point underlined by the lessons drawn from the OVHCloud fire, which demonstrated how quickly assumed protections can evaporate when something goes wrong at the hardware level. Rethinking the toolchain For data centre teams, the practical consequence is a growing need to audit the toolchain - not just the infrastructure they manage for customers, but the tools they use internally to manage that infrastructure. This is a non-trivial task. Many of the most capable platforms in categories like monitoring, ITSM, and collaboration are US-headquartered. Replacing them wholesale is expensive, disruptive, and technically risky. The more pragmatic approach being adopted by many European operators is a tiered assessment: identifying which tools handle which categories of data, and which of those data categories carry the highest regulatory exposure. Operational telemetry that contains no personal data may carry a different risk profile than a shared drive full of customer documentation, change records, and contractual files. The latter category (documents and files shared amongst engineering and operations teams) is one where the market for European-origin alternatives has matured considerably. For file storage and document sharing specifically, a number of privacy-focused alternatives have emerged that offer end-to-end encryption, EU-based infrastructure, and no exposure to US jurisdiction. Proton Drive is one example; being built on zero-access encryption and hosted under Swiss and EU law, it is designed so that even the service provider cannot access the contents of stored files. For operations teams handling sensitive engineering documentation or customer-related records, this kind of architecture addresses the sovereignty question at a technical rather than contractual level. The distinction between technical and contractual sovereignty protections is one that regulators are increasingly paying attention to. A Data Processing Agreement with a US cloud provider commits that provider contractually to certain behaviours; zero-access encryption means that no behaviour, however compelled, can result in plaintext data being handed over, because the keys never leave the customer's control. The compliance burden on operations What makes this period particularly challenging for data centre teams is that sovereignty compliance is not a one-time project; it is a continuous risk assessment process, one that requires keeping pace with an evolving regulatory landscape across multiple EU member states. Germany alone layers 17 state-level data laws on top of national and EU requirements. The practical implication is that an operations team running a facility serving customers across multiple European jurisdictions may need to maintain a sophisticated, jurisdiction-aware view of where data flows, which tools touch it, and which legal regimes apply. The full scope of what that means for day-to-day operations is covered across DCNN's compliance coverage. This is driving demand for a new kind of capability within operations teams: compliance literacy, meaning engineers who understand not just how to configure a monitoring platform, but what data that platform collects, where it sends it, and whether that is consistent with the data processing agreements their organisation holds with its customers. The audit pressure is already here Customer-driven audit pressure is one of the most immediate ways data centre teams are encountering sovereignty requirements in practice. Enterprise customers, particularly those in regulated sectors like finance, healthcare, and government, are increasingly including detailed data residency and toolchain questions in their due diligence processes before signing colocation or managed service contracts. They want to know not just where their data sits, but which third-party tools the data centre operator uses to manage access, monitor systems, and handle incidents, because those tools are part of the data processing chain. A data centre that stores customer data on EU infrastructure but logs all incident management activity through a US-based ITSM platform may have a harder time satisfying those audits than one that has thought carefully about the full operational stack. This connects directly to the broader operational challenges outlined in an earlier look at the key pressures facing data centre operations teams, where compliance and ESG demands were already competing for finite team bandwidth. Looking ahead European data sovereignty is not a temporary regulatory moment; it reflects a deep structural shift in how European governments, regulators, and enterprise customers think about digital infrastructure, one in which the origin and legal jurisdiction of technology matters as much as its performance or price. For data centre teams, this means the toolchain review is not optional. The platforms that operations, engineering, and management teams use every day are now part of the compliance picture. The good news is that the market for sovereign-by-design tooling is expanding, covering everything from monitoring and observability to file storage and secure communications. The teams that will navigate this most successfully are those that start the audit now, before a customer inquiry, a regulatory inspection, or an incident forces the issue. Understanding which tools handle which data, under whose jurisdiction, and with what level of technical protection is not just a compliance exercise; it is increasingly a competitive differentiator.

AI data centre capacity to surge from 2.3GW to 150GW

Structure Research, an independent research and consulting firm focused on the global internet infrastructure market, has announced the release of its new AI Infrastructure Report, finding that AI-focused data centre capacity is projected to jump from roughly 2.3 gigawatts (GW) today to 150GW by 2030, a 66-fold increase that will reshape where capital, power, and workloads concentrate globally. The AI Infrastructure Report provides a bottom-up view of who is funding, building, and consuming AI infrastructure worldwide, combining 14 company-level trackers with a 38-operator ‘neocloud’ and sovereign infrastructure rollup to map how capacity and capital will flow through 2030. Built from Structure Research's proprietary dataset, every forecast is constructed using a bottom-up methodology and validated through a conservation framework that reconciles infrastructure ownership with compute consumption, aiming to create a consistent view of where capacity, capital, and workloads ultimately concentrate. Jabez Tan, Head of Research at Structure Research, notes, "As AI infrastructure investment accelerates globally, there is increasing confusion around who is actually building capacity, who is financing it, and who ultimately consumes the compute being created. "This report was designed to cut through the noise and provide a single, reconciled view of the AI infrastructure ecosystem. By examining both the supply and demand sides of the market simultaneously, we can better understand where capital is flowing, where bottlenecks are emerging, and how the competitive landscape is evolving." Key findings from the report The AI Infrastructure Report provides a comprehensive view of the organisations funding, building, and consuming AI infrastructure and examines how the market will evolve through 2030. Key findings include: · Power availability is emerging as one of the primary constraints to continued AI infrastructure expansion. · The report distinguishes between organisations that own AI infrastructure and those that ultimately consume AI compute capacity, providing a reconciled view of supply and demand. · Infrastructure and commercial models vary significantly in their ability to convert capital into compute, with a 45x range across different approaches. · Microsoft, leading AI labs, neocloud providers, and sovereign AI initiatives are pursuing increasingly divergent infrastructure strategies that will shape future capacity demand. · The report evaluates the long-term outlook for neocloud providers, sovereign AI programs, and custom silicon as competition and market maturity continue to reshape the ecosystem. The AI Infrastructure Report is intended for hyperscalers, AI infrastructure providers, cloud platforms, data centre operators, investors, policymakers, and enterprise technology leaders seeking a deeper understanding of the forces shaping the future of AI infrastructure deployment.

Ingeteam supplies BESS for Dublin data centre microgrid

Ingeteam, a Spanish manufacturer of power electronics, has supplied the battery energy storage system (BESS) for a microgrid at Pure Data Centres Group (Pure DC)'s Dublin campus, supporting what is described as Europe's first microgrid designed to power a data centre. The project forms part of the Orion Phase 1 development and includes a 10MW/20MWh BESS, alongside a power plant controller (PPC) and SCADA system. The battery system has been commissioned and integrated with the site's power stations and energy management system. The installation is Ingeteam's third energy storage project in Ireland since the company entered the market in 2020. During construction, the campus had been supported by a temporary 10MW energy centre. The project also incorporates Ingeteam's liquid-cooled INGECON SUN STORAGE C Series technology, creating a 10MVA grid-forming system without power derating. The permanent microgrid will combine three energy centres with on-site battery storage, increasing the campus's total installed capacity to 110MW. A microgrid designed to support future growth The system has been designed to operate independently of the national electricity grid while retaining the ability to connect once additional grid capacity becomes available. Located at the Pure DC campus in Dublin, the on-site energy infrastructure provides dispatchable capacity during the site's initial development phase. It is expected to eventually transition to a hybrid configuration that combines grid electricity with on-site energy generation and storage. As grid capacity becomes an increasing constraint on digital infrastructure projects, particularly those supporting AI and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads, microgrids are expected to play a growing role in enabling new data centre developments across Europe.

Fourth generation of the R&Mfreenet system released

Reichle & De-Massari (R&M), a Swiss manufacturer of cabling and connectivity infrastructure for data centres and networks, is introducing the fourth generation of its standard cabling system, R&Mfreenet. "With R&Mfreenet 4.0, we are beginning a new chapter in network technology," says Matthias Gerber, R&M Market Manager LAN Cabling. "R&Mfreenet 4.0 is more than a portfolio for structured cabling with connectivity, cables, distributors, and outlets; it sets new standards because it considerably simplifies and perfects the planning, installation, and operation of data networks." With the cabling system, R&M is offering a comprehensive modular system for the physical level of local data networks (LAN). The focus is on the renewed and harmonised range of RJ45 connection modules, and R&M is reducing the number of variants of the EL4.0 module generation to two per category. Small parts such as adaptors are no longer required or are now integrated into the module - such as tension relief, colour code, and protective flap. The self-explanatory "Easy Lock" assembly process has also been compressed into a single work step. The R&Mfreenet 4.0 system includes installation and patch cords that "meet the highest-quality requirements". R&M also says it is the only manufacturer to connect the copper wires of the patch cords with corrosion-resistant, strain- and vibration-proofed IDC technology. The plug contacts are coated with a layer of gold (of a specified thickness) "to ensure loss-free signal transmission under all conditions". The installation cables must pass the R&M endurance test before they are approved for use. R&M maintains its own supply chain and ensures that the installation cables are available worldwide at all times. R&M also offers the modular rack family, Freenet, as housing for distributors and equipment. Customers can freely configure the Freenet racks to suit their project. Infrastructure solutions for every commercial use With R&Mfreenet 4.0, customers can set up structured cabling as well as a complete passive infrastructure for modern ethernet/IP networks. The cabling system is suitable for a variety of commercial applications and environments. These include IT, offices and data centres, trade and industry, and WiFi and IP-aided building automation. With the Cat. 8.1 ISO products, networks can be installed that enable high-speed data traffic of up to 40 Gigabit/s. R&Mfreenet 4.0 contains fibre optic solutions for backbones, digital ceilings, Fibre to the Office, and extended and hybrid networks. The cabling system supports Power over Ethernet (PoE) "up to the highest performance level" for the remote power supply of terminal devices and equipment. R&M uses the PowerSafe seal to label specifically tested PoE-stable products. Customers receive lifetime application warranties on R&Mfreenet 4.0 installations. To this end, the network must be installed and tested by qualified specialists in accordance with R&M specifications. Matthias sums it up, stating, "We are proud to be introducing the fourth-generation R&Mfreenet system, which is equipped to meet the challenges of the digital era. "This strategic renewal reduces complexity and the risk of errors. R&Mfreenet 4.0 incorporates continuous innovation and in-depth knowledge of technologies, markets, and customer requirements. "Improved interaction of the components simplifies planning, ordering, storage, work preparation, and installation. We are making design, functions, installation, security, and logistics more user-friendly, coherent, and sustainable, without compromising on quality, technology, and cost-effectiveness." For more from R&M, click here.

Janitza marks 40 years of growth

Janitza, a German manufacturer of energy measurement and power quality monitoring equipment, is marking its 40th anniversary as demand for power quality and energy monitoring continues to grow across sectors including data centres, industry, and critical infrastructure. The company says it is continuing to expand its international operations, with investment in local subsidiaries and customer support capabilities in markets including the UK, North America, and Australia. Founded in Germany in 1986, Janitza now operates in more than 90 countries, supplying energy monitoring and power quality technologies for applications where resilient electrical infrastructure is essential. Markus Janitza, founder and CEO of Janitza, notes, "The requirements for modern energy infrastructure have changed dramatically over recent decades. "As power grids become more dynamic and energy systems more complex, transparency and power quality are becoming increasingly critical, particularly in sectors such as data centres, industry, and critical infrastructure. "This is exactly where we continue to support our customers globally with precise measurement and monitoring technologies." International expansion continues Janitza says it has grown from a regional manufacturer with around 30 employees into an international supplier serving customers across a range of industries. The company states that it will continue investing in engineering and manufacturing at its German headquarters while expanding its international sales and customer support network. Alexander Veidt, CEO at Janitza, comments, "Over the years, Janitza has always identified technological developments at an early stage and translated them into practical solutions for customers. We will continue to follow this path consistently in the years ahead." Janitza remains a family-owned business and says it expects demand for energy transparency, resilient electrical infrastructure, and power quality technologies to continue increasing as energy systems become more complex. The company also formally celebrated its 40th anniversary with an industry event at its headquarters in Germany on 19 June 2026. For more from Janitza, cick here.

AI infrastructure is booming beyond the bubble

In this exclusive article for DCNN, Damir Špoljarič (pictured above), founder of Gi21 Capital, challenges the idea of an AI bubble, suggesting that long-term investment in data centre infrastructure reflects enduring demand rather than short-term market speculation: The distinction between applications and infrastructure Every conversation about the economics of AI inevitably arrives at the subject of the dreaded AI bubble. Artificial intelligence, we’re told, is a bubble that is just moments from bursting. When the MIT Sloan Management Review compiled its list of the biggest trends in AI and data science for 2026, the deflation of said bubble topped the list. With the IPO race between OpenAI and Anthropic heating up, The Telegraph worried aloud about “history repeating itself” with the “dotcom bubble 2.0”. But these conversations are conflating two distinct categories: AI infrastructure and AI applications. The bubble-indicating hype exists predominantly at the application layer, consisting of AI startups, software platforms, and emerging business models. Infrastructure, by contrast, is driven by non-cyclical demand and is still in the early stages, so it’s more stable than the application layer. The entire AI ecosystem isn’t a single market; therefore, there is no single bubble that can burst. The physical foundation that makes AI possible (data centres, power systems, networking equipment, cooling technologies, and compute capacity) and the investment appear increasingly structural and long-term. Valuation vs demand vs implementation Many AI companies are without a doubt overvalued, lacking strong fundamentals for such valuation, and those company-sized bubbles may indeed burst. However, there is no industry-sized bubble, and it’s a mistake to conflate the failure of individual companies with the long-term trajectory of AI adoption itself. No bubble changes the reality that AI is still in the early stages of implementation across all industries globally, and that it will have a profound effect on the social contract in the coming years. This is real, transformative technology that will create far more winners than failed companies. The models are getting more efficient by the day, but this does not mean that it will soon outpace demand. The world is likely using only a minuscule fraction of the AI that will eventually be deployed. A McKinsey report released last November found that nearly two thirds of organisations are still in their AI pilot and experimentation stages, and have not yet begun proper scaling across their enterprises. As AI progressively penetrates every industry, the need for infrastructure will appear increasingly sensible and structural as opposed to speculative. Efficiency gains don’t change the fact that AI adoption remains at a very early stage, with untold demand yet to be realised. Not-so-peak investment The validity of any argument about an AI bubble rests on the idea that the industry is at, or near, peak investment. At best, we’ve only just finished the warm-up. There are indeed exorbitant amounts of capital flowing into foundation models, but that’s to be expected when building the base infrastructure layer of a technology as transformative as this. It’s also necessary. We’re building the infrastructure required for future growth, not responding to already realised demand. Data centres, power grids, transmission networks, and compute clusters are years-long projects from planning to construction. Entire economies would struggle with capacity shortages if we waited until demand fully materialised. Consider it the opening phase of a much longer infrastructure buildout. The cash flow is justified when viewed as front-loading the infrastructure of the biggest industrial shift of the century. Although AI is mostly limited to software, its next phase will be real-world, physical integration, particularly through robotics. Once that occurs, an even bigger (and more obviously justified) explosion in capital volume is likely to occur. Autonomous, AI-driven robotics will become central to manufacturing, logistics, and daily life, and require a capital expenditure that makes today’s spending look tiny. Real demand and imagined bubbles Supply constraints are good evidence that infrastructure demand remains strong, but it’s also more complex than that. Global project delays often come down to the limited availability of critical data centre infrastructure components such as transformers and UPS batteries. Lead times for both typically exceed a year. GPU supply is under hard pricing pressure due to high demand. Such realities are wholly inconsistent with the concept of a market suffering from excess capacity. The likelihood of overbuilding is low. Genuine long-term demand exists behind current infrastructure development. Decade-long contracts are now commonplace in this market. Speculative projects haven’t disappeared, but overall financing conditions remain relatively disciplined. To that end, banks and infrastructure investors remain relatively conservative when it comes to financing, insofar as they still want to see meaningful long-term customer commitments before backing new AI data centre developments. Infrastructure is always built ahead of demand - only with AI has this fact inspired such panic. The gap between current end-user consumption and projected future demand is fairly standard in the tech world. Less bubble, more well-laid plans Rather than view AI infrastructure as a bubble, we should view it as akin to city planning. Roads and water pipelines are built before they’re demanded en masse, and demand follows their construction. Construction and deployment take time. AI infrastructure, like any other kind of infrastructure, must be planned years in advance. The bubble is not about to burst, because the bubble doesn’t exist. This is only the beginning of development, implementation, and investment. However it looks in a decade, it is not cause for frantic concern today.

Lenovo to supply HPC for research at Southampton Uni

Lenovo, a Chinese multinational technology company making servers and AI infrastructure systems, has signed a four-year agreement with the University of Southampton in the UK to supply high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure, supporting the university's research programmes. Through and in addition to this, the company says it also plans to return to the 'Top500' ranking of the world's most powerful supercomputers. Under the agreement, Lenovo will become the university's preferred supplier of HPC infrastructure following a competitive tender process. The partnership builds on a relationship between the two organisations spanning more than a decade. The first order, valued at approximately £7 million, is scheduled for delivery during summer 2026. New systems to support AI and scientific research The initial deployment will include Lenovo ThinkSystem SR675 V3 servers equipped with NVIDIA H200 GPUs and NVLink technology, designed for artificial intelligence, simulation, and other compute-intensive workloads. A second phase is expected to introduce a cluster based on NVIDIA Grace Blackwell architecture using Lenovo ThinkSystem SC777 V4 Neptune servers, further increasing the university's computing capacity. According to Lenovo, the systems will support research across a range of scientific disciplines and help expand the university's computational capabilities. Andy Rhodes, Managing Director of Lenovo UK & Ireland, says, "As research demands continue to grow in scale and complexity, access to powerful, scalable computing is critical. "Lenovo's latest HPC solutions, including next-generation GPU-accelerated systems, will enable the University of Southampton to tackle data-intensive workloads and accelerate breakthrough research. We are proud to support their ambition to further elevate their global research standing." Partnership extends beyond infrastructure Alongside the deployment of HPC systems, the agreement includes opportunities for collaboration on end-user computing, researcher engagement, and the adoption of new technologies across the university. Professor Mark Spearing, Vice President Research and Enterprise at the University of Southampton, comments, "This partnership represents a major step forward in strengthening our research infrastructure. "These new HPC capabilities will play a vital role in enabling cutting-edge research and innovation, helping to raise the global profile of Southampton's research community and compete at the highest international level." The organisations also expect to work together on activities linked to the British Science Festival, which will be hosted by the University of Southampton in September 2026. For more from Lenovo, click here.