Indiana Data Center News

Mar 26, 2026

International Data Center Day: Future Frontiers 2030-2070

Data Center Frontier presents a fictional, forward-looking narrative exploring International Data Center Day activities and future digital infrastructure education.

Main announcement/action: Data Center Frontier publishes a plausible-future narrative about International Data Center Day (2030) in which 32 middle-school teams worldwide design, build, and operate tabletop, self-sustaining mini data center campuses using modular racks, fiber, micro solar, tiny wind turbines, programmable robotic operators, and AI agents; judges evaluated efficiency, resilience, innovation, and execution, with winners from India, and recognitions for edge-first and resilience (e.g., a Texas team with a microturbine mockup). Timeline and scale details: event depicted in 2030, final phase runs live AI workloads, and a coda projects to Moon-8 in 2070 — a lunar campus described as 100 gigawatts across eight domes.
Background and details: The piece is narrative/speculative (not reportage) and highlights concrete technical constraints: mandatory fiber wiring, power budgeting and dynamic pricing experiments (teams using live grid APIs), predictive maintenance demonstrations, and task-shifting of workloads under thermal and energy limits; it also references organizational context including 7x24 Exchange, Data Center Frontier’s editorial role, and use of AI tools (elements created with help from OpenAI’s GPT5).

Mar 25, 2026

Why AI rack densities make liquid cooling nonnegotiable

Sean Michael Kerner reports that the industry’s largest AI infrastructure operators have already deployed and standardized liquid cooling for future builds.

Main announcement/action:Major operators have moved to liquid cooling and standardized designs, including Google (liquid cooling across >2,000 TPU pod deployments at gigawatt scale), Microsoft (moved all new data center designs to closed-loop, zero-water-evaporation liquid cooling as of August 2024), and Meta (committed $800 million to a liquid-cooled AI data center campus in Indiana). Nvidia announced the Vera Rubin platform at CES January 2026 and confirmed customer availability in H2 2026, with Vera Rubin supporting 45°C warm-water single-phase direct liquid cooling that allows heat rejection via dry coolers rather than mechanical chillers.
Background and supporting details:Market size and forecasts: Dell’Oro Group reported the liquid-cooling market approached $3 billion in 2025 and is forecast to reach $7 billion by 2029; density thresholds per JLL: air adequate up to ~20 kW/rack, rear-door exchangers to ~100 kW, immersion above ~175 kW; technology notes: Shell received chip-maker certification for immersion fluids in May 2025 (Intel endorsement), two-phase immersion offers PUE 1.01–1.03 but relies on PFAS fluorocarbons (3M exited Novec/PFAS), and Lenovo’s Neptune direct-water platform has provided warm-water cooling since 2012. All facts are drawn from the article and its cited sources.

Mar 25, 2026

DCF Poll: AI Data Center Assumptions

Matt Vincent (Editor in Chief, Data Center Frontier) argues that the AI data center buildout has entered a new phase in which physical, political, and economic constraints are causing announced capacity to diverge from what can realistically be delivered.

Main announcement/action: The author presents an analysis that power procurement is proving harder to secure, interconnection timelines are stretching well beyond construction cycles, communities are asserting themselves as a gating force, and announced capacity is diverging from deliverable capacity; he frames the central question for 2026 as which foundational assumption (power delivery, announced capacity, grid scaling, or community approvals) will break first.
Background and details: This is an editorial/analytic piece by Matt Vincent of Data Center Frontier (Endeavor Business Media). It summarizes industry trends around hyperscale AI-era infrastructure, including behind-the-meter power strategies, grid scaling challenges, permitting and community pushback; contact and author profile links are provided (mailto:mvincent@endeavorb2b.com, LinkedIn).

Mar 24, 2026

Superconducting the AI Era: Rethinking Power Delivery for Gigawatt Data Centers

MetOx CEO Bud Vos outlined the company’s high-temperature superconducting (HTS) approach for moving large amounts of power across gigawatt-scale AI data center campuses on the Data Center Frontier Show podcast (published March 24, 2026).

Main announcement/action: Bud Vos (CEO, MetOx) described HTS as a practical alternative to copper for campus and in-hall power delivery, claiming ~10x power density vs copper, the ability to replace dozens of conductors with a few superconducting cables, and that MetOx is “deploying, testing, and then innovating on top of that.” The episode was published on March 24, 2026 on the Data Center Frontier Show podcast.
Background and other details: The piece notes HTS requires liquid nitrogen cooling, has utility deployment track records, can reduce physical footprint and permitting impacts, uses ~99% less copper, and aligns with trends in behind-the-meter generation, multi-building campus transmission, and liquid-cooling architectures. No specific contract values or timelines beyond ongoing deployment/testing were provided.

Mar 23, 2026

Executive Roundtable: The AI Infrastructure Credibility Test

Data Center Frontier convened an Executive Roundtable (Q1 2026) to examine how the data center industry can maintain its social license to operate as AI-driven buildout expands.

Roundtable and main themes: The panel (Christopher Gorthy of DPR Construction; Miranda Gardiner of iMasons Climate Accord; Miles Whitling of Maddox Industrial Transformer; Mike Connaughton of Leviton Network Solutions) discussed transparency, energy and water stewardship, community engagement, and infrastructure co-investment as core actions to sustain credibility. The discussion highlights specific practices such as recycled-water wheel-wash systems, sourcing materials with reduced embodied carbon, co-investing in substations and transmission upgrades, on-site or data center–owned generation, and adding water as a key vertical in 2026 for iMasons.
Context and concrete details: Panelists noted technical and operational measures (efficient cooling, recycled/non-potable water use, optimized electrical systems) and early community engagement before construction. Miranda Gardiner cited a potential $1 trillion in investment in 2026, and iMasons’ 2026 State of the Industry report and program updates were referenced as part of ongoing industry efforts to address power, water, and environmental impacts.

Mar 22, 2026

Ohio leaders clash over data center growth amid cost, environmental concerns

U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman has introduced two bills aimed at protecting communities from potential harms posed by large-scale data centers.

Main action: Landsman’s proposals would require data centers to pay the full cost of their energy demand and infrastructure needs, mandate direct environmental impact studies, and prohibit nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) for elected officials involved in data center projects; Landsman said he is committed to pushing these protections forward.
Context and additional details: The measures were discussed at a community meeting hosted by the Coalition for Responsible Development and the University of Cincinnati’s School of Environment and Sustainability, where speakers including gubernatorial candidate Casey Putsch raised concerns about electricity and freshwater use for cooling; industry representative from DCC stated data centers are “committed to paying our full cost of service for electricity,” and Prologis purchased about 140 to 144 acres in Trenton last spring as potential site land for development.

Mar 20, 2026

Roundtable: Designing for an Uncertain AI Demand Curve

Data Center Frontier published an Executive Roundtable (Q1 2026) exploring how developers and suppliers should future-proof power and electrical capacity for rapidly evolving AI demand.

Main announcement/action: The roundtable (Q1 2026) convened industry leaders (Christopher Gorthy of DPR Construction, Miranda Gardiner of iMasons Climate Accord, Miles Whitling of Maddox Industrial Transformer, and Mike Connaughton of Leviton Network Solutions) to recommend modular, scalable electrical architectures, early integration of sustainability teams, and policy engagement to avoid overbuilding while accelerating speed-to-market. The discussion emphasized design choices such as substations and distribution systems with clear expansion pathways, space in medium-/low-voltage conduits, staged capacity scaling, and use of microgrids, behind-the-meter generation, and BESS where policy and markets support them.
Background and additional details: Panelists highlighted trade-offs between flexibility, cost, schedule, and reliability, urged early engagement with technical experts and utilities, and recommended standardizing specifications and bulk procurement for long-lead equipment (transformers, switchgear) to accelerate delivery. The piece calls for working with policymakers to streamline grid interconnections and referenced emerging regional policies that incentivize storage and distributed generation; this is a published roundtable discussion rather than a single project announcement.

Mar 19, 2026

Google Signs Deal for Demand Response Capacity for Data Centers

Google has announced it has integrated 1 GW of demand response capacity into its long-term energy contracts with multiple U.S. utilities.

Main announcement: Google integrated 1 GW of demand response capacity into long-term energy contracts with multiple U.S. utilities, explicitly naming Indiana Michigan Power (I&M), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Entergy Arkansas, Minnesota Power, and DTE Energy.
Background and details: Since initial agreements with I&M and TVA last year, Google says the capability lets it limit or shift ML workloads in data centers to support grid balancing; Google is a founding member of EPRI DCFlex and is collaborating with states, regulators, and utility partners to modernize power system planning.

Mar 19, 2026 · Google

A new milestone for smart, affordable electricity growth

Google has announced it integrated 1 GW of demand response capacity into long-term energy contracts with multiple U.S. utilities.

Main announcement: Google has integrated a total of 1 gigawatt (GW) of demand response capacity into long-term energy contracts with multiple U.S. utilities (including Indiana Michigan Power (I&M), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Entergy Arkansas, Minnesota Power, and DTE Energy) to allow the company to shift or reduce ML workloads, deploy demand response quickly to bridge short-term load growth, and help new data centers connect more rapidly to local grids.
Background and implementation details: These contracts position demand response as a capacity resource alongside solar, geothermal and long-duration energy storage; Google cites collaboration with states, regulators and utility partners, participation in initiatives like EPRI DCFlex, and notes limits to availability by location and that demand response helps cover peak periods while longer-term generation/storage projects are developed.

Mar 18, 2026

Executive Roundtable: The Coordination Imperative

Data Center Frontier convened an Executive Roundtable exploring coordination challenges in delivering multi-hundred-megawatt and gigawatt-scale AI data center campuses.

Main announcement/action: The roundtable (Q1 2026) with panelists Christopher Gorthy (DPR Construction), Miranda Gardiner (iMasons Climate Accord), Miles Whitling (Maddox Industrial Transformer), and Mike Connaughton (Leviton Network Solutions) examined fragmentation across utilities, suppliers, builders, and operators and recommended concrete practices including early stakeholder collaboration, a single integrated schedule tying owner, vendors, GC, trades and commissioning teams, and consistent two- to three-week look-ahead reviews and onsite coordination to align multi-hundred-megawatt to gigawatt projects.
Background and other details: Panelists highlighted moving from commitments to execution on sustainability (renewable procurement, grid interconnections, advanced cooling, heat recovery), the role of hyperscale-led coordination and standards bodies (Open Compute Project, updates to TIA 942), the importance of aligning with financial institutions, insurance, and private equity, and strategies like bringing suppliers into design phase and shifting from transactional bids to strategic supplier partnerships.

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