Data Center Infrastructure

Making data centers and digital infrastructure future-ready

The growing global demand for data processing is reshaping the physical and digital infrastructure that supports it—from data centers to the technology, real estate, energy, and water they rely on. Digital infrastructure has fast become the key enabling infrastructure that underpins everything from cloud services to AI, requiring the build out of new networks at breakneck speed in what is an increasingly complex regulatory and geopolitical landscape.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), data center workloads have increased by more than 340% since 2015. This has driven a substantial rise in energy use, with electricity consumption increasing significantly over the period despite major efficiency gains. The IEA expects that electricity consumption from data centers will roughly double from 485 TWh in 2025 to 950 TWh in 2030, potentially accounting for around 3% of global electricity demand by that date.

These shifts are having a significant impact across industries. In the energy sector, for instance, explosive demand growth from data centers and AI usage is placing pressure on supply and driving investment in firm power resources, renewables, and grid infrastructure. For capital providers, the emergence of a new, multitrillion-dollar asset class requires a reassessment of traditional long-term infrastructure financing models due to compressed technology lifecycles and high-power-obsolescence risks. And the technology sector now faces a "physical reality check," where the breakneck speed of AI development delays in physical infrastructure are throttling, forcing a strategic shift from pure digital innovation to the high-stakes management of grid interconnection queues, extreme power density requirements, and a dwindling supply of viable, permitted land.

These impacts are being driven by deeper structural changes. Power availability and sustainability goals now influence where and how infrastructure is built. In real estate, data centers are becoming a major asset class, with siting driven less by traditional real estate fundamentals than by power availability, fiber routes, water access, and permitting regimes. Supply chain, construction, and operational risks are increasing, and technology, energy, real estate, and finance matters are now so interconnected that decisions made at one stage of the life cycle typically affect the next. At the same time, data security and foreign investment regulations are changing in many regions and shaping the strategies of investors, operators, and users.

To keep up with these changes, organizations need to take a strategic approach to building, managing, and using data centers and digital infrastructure. This means planning for long-term capacity and resilience, securing reliable and sustainable energy sources, and managing dependencies across complex ecosystems of providers, partners, and physical assets. Organizations must also navigate evolving regulations, consider how decisions affect the infrastructure life cycle, and embed security and risk management into operations.

Opportunities and challenges

• Digital infrastructure, especially data centers, has become a major asset class that consistently attracts both capital and long-term investment.
• Digital infrastructure has become critical infrastructure—it underpins cloud, AI, and digital services, making it not only essential to maintain existing global demand but critical to the ability to service business growth and transformation.
• Growing demand is driving investment in new technologies for firm power supply, renewables, grid infrastructure, and other sustainable energy solutions.
• Interdependencies across technology, procurement, energy, real estate, and finance can complicate infrastructure planning and management.
• Rules relating to energy, construction, land use, security, and investment differ across regions and are continuing to evolve.