5 Notable Data Center Links , Oct. 12
Data centers and GDP, State of AI Report, Software-Defined Construction
Each week I curate 5 links from the data center sector that I find particularly interesting, with my commentary on why they merit your attention.
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5 Notable Links
Billionaire Behind Blackstone’s Data Center Bet Readies Next Act - Chad Williams is back, and ready to build some more. As founder of QTS, Williams led the provider through huge growth, including a $10 billion acquisition by Blackstone. Williams left the company in April, but this week he unveiled his next venture, Quality Infratech Intelligence (QII or “Q2”), which will bring together data, energy and logistics in a digital infrastructure offering. This is one to watch.
Harvard Economist: Digital Infrastructure Driving U.S. Growth - U.S. GDP growth in the first half of 2025 was almost entirely driven by investment in data centers and information processing technology, according to Harvard economist Jason Furman. Excluding these technology-related categories, Furman calculated, GDP growth would have been just 0.1% on an annualized basis. There are always a variety of metrics on the economy, but this data point captures the growing impact of AI development.
858 Terabytes of Korean Government Data May Be Lost in Fire - DCD has been tracking developments in a Sept. 26 fire in a government data center in South Korea, which has led to a number of arrests. DCD reports that there was apparently no backup for a huge storage drive that was destroyed in the fire, which has hobbled the recovery effort for some departments. Check those backups, people!
The Age of Fake Data Centers: Complexity, People and Tools: Amid a flood of new data center projects, what factors will decide which ones succeed and make it to market? Daniel Golding is back with another LinkedIn analysis that focuses on teams and tools. As projects scale massively, big teams are faring better than small teams, creating a growing role for “Software-Defined Construction” to manage the complexity of scale.
State of AI Report 2025 - From the Nerdy Resource Dept. - The 8th edition of this annual report from Air Street Capital offers a deep dive into the frontier of AI and the evolution of models, capabilities and geopolitics around AI. The report is free and runs more than 300 pages (!) but also comes with a 25-minute video overview. It closes with 10 predictions for the next 12 months, including one that “Datacenter NIMBYism takes the US by storm and sways certain midterm/gubernatorial elections in 2026.”
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