Data Centres Briefings

The sharpest tell in today’s tape is how quickly the power-and-gear supply chain is being pulled into the data centre boom. In one place, the numbers are almost comical: Vertiv says Q4 orders jumped 252%, with data centres now 80–85% of revenue and backlog covering more than 100% of its 2026 sales guidance. When Vertiv, Eaton, GE Vernova and Legrand all talk about swelling backlogs while hyperscalers plan $650bn of data-centre and power-equipment spend this year, “AI buildout” stops being a narrative and starts being an industrial cycle.

The Big Stories

The clearest near-term winners are the firms that touch every MW of new compute. [Electrical equipment makers Vertiv, Eaton, GE Vernova and Legrand reported large order increases an

Vertiv, Eaton, GE Vernova and Legrand aren’t just “benefiting” from data centre growth — they’re getting dragged into it at full speed. In one of the cleanest demand signals you’ll see, Vertiv’s Q4 orders jumped 252% and its backlog now covers more than 100% of its 2026 sales guidance, on a day when the industry is being told hyperscalers plan $650bn of data-centre and power-equipment spending this year. That kind of pull-through changes who has leverage in the stack: not the operator, but the people who can actually ship switchgear, UPS, thermal, and grid gear.

The Big Stories

Electrical equipment makers race to serve booming data centers lays out just how fast the “pick-and-shovel” side is tightening. Vertiv says data centres are

Top news (3)

1. Virginia lawmakers consider tighter oversight of high-load interconnections and transmission cost allocation. Virginia pushes SB619 and SB339 to reform data centers highlights proposed State Corporation Commission (SCC) oversight for large data centre interconnections and a mandated review/adjustment of how transmission costs are allocated—against a backdrop of >US$28bn in forecast transmission costs by 2040 (Dominion Energy) and reported 70 GW+ of contracted data centre load in the state.

2. Ohio proposes a state-level study commission as data centre growth accelerates. Data centers in Ohio: Economic boost or environmental burden? notes House Bill 646 wou

Top news (3)

• Virginia bills seek oversight and cost allocation for data centers: Two Virginia bills (SB 619 and SB 339) passed crossover and would (i) require State Corporation Commission (SCC) oversight for “high-load” data centers via a Certificate of Operation for facilities ≥90MW, and (ii) reallocate transmission costs toward large-load users. SB 339 cites up to $28bn in transmission costs and $100–$300bn in capex.

• Trump-backed Ohio gas plant could become largest US polluter: A proposed 9.2GW gas-fired plant in Ohio—reportedly led by SoftBank, valued at about $33bn—is framed as supporting growing data-centre demand in PJM. Analysts estimate potent

Top news (3)

• US grid: new transmission rebuild proposals in Virginia. Dominion proposes 230 kV line rebuilds near Charlottesville, Gordonsville covering ~22.3 miles (Dooms–Charlottesville) and ~20 miles (Charlottesville–Gordonsville), framed as responding to regional demand from data centres.
• UK social licence: waste-heat reuse materially improves sentiment. Two-thirds of Brits favor local data centres using waste heat reports 66.8% would view nearby data centres more favourably if waste heat is used for local heat networks.
• Energy security focus: governments linking demand growth to data centres/AI. [Japan official attends IEA ministerial on energy security](https://tel

G42 is about to reset the scale conversation in India. The UAE AI group has signed a term sheet with C‑DAC to deploy an 8 exaflop national AI supercomputer cluster hosted in-country — nearly 19x the combined peak of AIRAWAT and PARAM Siddhi-AI — with Cerebras and MBZUAI involved, and an explicit promise that all data stays in India. That’s not just a bigger machine; it’s a statement about where AI compute (and control) is meant to live.

The Big Stories

G42 finalises term sheet for an 8 exaflop AI supercomputer cluster hosted in India with C‑DAC, partnering with Cerebras and MBZUAI, and positioning the system as open to startups plus public/private entities — while keeping data sovereign. The headline number matters because

Top news (3)

1. India: hyperscale + subsea scale-up – Google announces $15B India AI infrastructure investment in Vizag, centred on a “full-stack AI hub” in Visakhapatnam with gigawatt-scale compute and an international subsea cable gateway.

2. Firming power: commercial enhanced geothermal at meaningful size – Enhanced geothermal systems could expand U.S. geothermal power generation details Fervo Energy’s 53 MW Cape Generating Station (first large-scale commercial EGS generator in the US) and expansion-linked PPAs totaling 320 MW with Southern California Edison.

3. UK: AI funding tied to compute upgrades – [UKRI launches first-ever AI Research and Innovation

Top news (3)

1. Large India build-out signal: Google announces AI investments and partnerships at India summit including $15bn for foundational AI infrastructure and new America–India Connect fibre routes linking the U.S., India and Southern Hemisphere locations.

2. Big-ticket power for AI data centres: Japan and U.S. agree first Strategic Investment Initiative projects includes a gas-fired power project for AI data centers (~$33.3bn) as part of the first tranche.

3. Virginia gas + transmission line controversy: Tenaska gas plant proposal threatens Virginia communities, data centres — Tenaska is appealing a c

Top news (3)

1. Cybersecurity focus is moving “full‑stack” as AI raises the threat level — At the Munich Security Conference, Google called for a collaborative, end‑to‑end approach and highlighted adoption of Google Distributed Cloud (Air‑Gapped) by NATO, the U.S., Germany, the UK and Australia. See: Google calls for full-stack cybersecurity at Munich Security Conference.

2. Compute and energy constraints are becoming a visible limiter on AI scaling — A January 2026 “AI Frontiers” digest from Ukraine’s cybersecurity coordination bodies flags rising focus on efficiency/monetization, intensifying US–China competition in semiconductors/compute infrastructure, and infrastructure + energy constraints as key bottlenec

Top news (Global)

1. GPU platform efficiency claims are rising sharply. NVIDIA says its new Blackwell Ultra system offers major throughput-per-megawatt and cost-per-token gains, and it is already being deployed by several large cloud providers: NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 boosts agentic AI performance and efficiency.

2. Storage vendors are pushing “AI-scale” architectures and third-party validation narratives. Dell argues its PowerScale discrete, scale-out design delivers predictable linear scaling and sustained bandwidth, citing NVIDIA Cloud Provider (NCP) validation and Dell internal testing: Dell PowerScale: Discrete Architecture for AI-scale Storage and Efficiency.

3. **Liquid cooli

Top news (3)

1. Egypt accelerates near-term power additions: The government directed delivery of 3,000MW of solar plus 600MW of battery storage before summer 2026 to secure seasonal supply (Egypt to add 3,000 MW solar and 600 MW battery storage).
2. Saudi Arabia–Egypt interconnection milestone targeted: Egypt plans to energize the first 1,500MW phase of the Saudi Arabia interconnection in time for summer 2026, signalling incremental cross-border capacity availability (Egypt to add 3,000 MW solar and 600 MW battery storage).
3. Longer-dated renewables trajectory reaffirmed: Egypt reiterated its target of 42% renewable generation by 2030, underlining

Top news (3)

1. Canada–Germany move to build “secure compute” capacity: Canada and Germany sign AI declaration, launch Sovereign Alliance. The partnership is positioned around expanding secure compute infrastructure, accelerating AI R&D/commercialization, and strengthening talent development.

2. Smart-city digital infrastructure budgets are being framed in clear tiers (pilot to scaled rollouts): Smart City Platform Costs: Pilots, Scale, and Long-term Budgets outlines pilots at $100k–$500k and multi-department programs at $1M–$10M, with lifecycle budgeting emphasis.

3. Annual O&M expectations are being explicitly benchmarked for smart-city deployments: [Practical cost breakdown

Top news (Global)

• NCCETC’s 2025 Power Decarbonization Annual Review flags data-center-driven “large-load” electricity tariffs as a major US trend, alongside big planned additions across solar, gas, storage and wind.
• Dell and NVIDIA’s workstation-to-rack platform push highlights how rack-scale GPU systems (GH200/H200/GB200) and unified memory architectures are accelerating multiphysics simulation workloads—tightening the link between AI/HPC demand and data center compute density.
• Azerbaijan positions itself as a connectivity and AI hub with stated plans spanning electricity cables, fiber-optics, data centers and AI, tied

Top news (3)

1. South Africa puts grid reform and new transmission investment front-and-centre. In his SONA messaging, President Ramaphosa pointed to >R1 trillion public infrastructure investment over three years and reiterated reforms aimed at ending load reduction and scaling renewables (target >40% by 2030) (South Africa charts unity, growth and reform in SONA).

2. US political risk around data centre build-out is rising. Jefferies flags bipartisan scrutiny (including moratoria calls in six states) plus potential federal and state policy levers that could slow AI/data centre expansion; a key near-term catalyst is the Prince William Digital Gateway court hearing Feb 23–24 ([Bipartisan political scrutiny th

Top news (3)

1. Behind-the-meter gas generation is scaling quickly for US AI/HPC loads: INNIO to supply 1.5 GW behind‑the‑meter power to VoltaGrid via 300 Jenbacher gas engines (25MW blocks) delivered by 2028.

2. Virginia’s data center policy debate is intensifying: a statewide coalition is pushing “comprehensive reform,” while multiple bills have already failed committee and others remain live: Virginia coalition urges statewide data center reform in Richmond.

3. The EU is moving toward stronger ICT supply-chain controls that could affect data center operators and critical digital infrastructure procurement: [EU proposes ICT supply chain security framework under CSA2](https://telborg.

Top news (3)

• Demand is running ahead of financing and grid capacity. In its 2026 outlook, DataBank said enterprise colocation demand should remain strong, but warned that financing and grid capacity will be strained by AI-scale infrastructure; it cited 15 GW leased in 2025 and noted that most capacity is expected online in late 2026–2027 (Data center industry outlook for 2026: power, funding, AI).
• Energy constraints are now shaping the AI supply chain and M&A. Jefferies argued the AI cycle is shifting pricing power toward memory suppliers (SK Hynix, Micron) with memory prices up ~50% last quarter, while flagging energy as a binding constraint; it also referenced OpenAI’s call to add 100 GW/year and sa

Top news (3)

• maincubes confirms EU Taxonomy alignment for BER01 (Berlin), following its earlier FRA02 alignment (2024). This is a notable signal for EU-focused capital seeking taxonomy-aligned digital infrastructure exposure.
• OVHcloud backs University of Strasbourg’s bgproutes.io BGP research, providing compute, hosting, Bare Metal and network-engineering support for large-scale route collection, real-time visualisation and anomaly detection.
• Cipher Mining sets date for Q4 and full-year 2025 results (release before market open on 24 Feb 2026; call/webcast at 8:00 a.m. ET). For investors, this is a near-term catalyst for disclosure on

Top news (3)

1. New utility tariff structures proposed to accelerate clean power for data centres

• An RMI insight brief recommends Bring-Your-Own (BYO) and Clean Transition Tariffs to speed up clean energy procurement for large loads (including data centres) while insulating other ratepayers. Examples cited include PJM’s Bring Your Own New Generation Program (>250 MW), Evergy Kansas’s Clean Energy Choice Rider, NV Energy’s Clean Transition Tariff (used by Google), and Georgia Power’s Customer-Identified Resource option: Bring-Your-Own and Clean Transition Tariffs for Data Centers.

2. Google pushes for faster post‑quantum cryptography (PQC) transition across critical infrastructure

• Google says it h

Top news (3)

• Virginians lobby for statewide data center reform in Richmond: A 50+ organization coalition is pushing the Virginia General Assembly to advance multiple “data center reform” bills (oversight, transparency, ratepayer protections, and tax incentive reform).
• Minnesota calls for tighter utility planning and tariffs for new data center load: Fresh Energy urges the Public Utilities Commission to require better load forecasting, targeted rate design, and transparency as 1,120 MW of new data center capacity is planned in the state.
• UK Environment Agency permits Amazon’s Linmere Island Data Centre: An environmental permit un

Top news (3)

1. Hyperscaler spend reset higher: Alphabet CEO Highlights Gemini 3, AI Growth and CapEx Plan sets 2026 CapEx guidance of $175–$185bn, tied to AI growth across Search/Cloud/YouTube, and plans to acquire Intersect for data centre and energy infrastructure solutions.

2. Large-scale DC/HPC financing in Texas: Cipher Mining prices $2.0B senior secured notes for Black Pearl — subsidiary Black Pearl Compute LLC priced $2.0bn of 6.125% senior secured notes due 2031 to fund completion of an HPC data centre in Wink, Texas (close expected 11 Feb 2026, subject to conditions).

3. Regulation-driven design becomes core requirement: [Data sovereignt