Chad Williams Unveils New AI Infrastructure Platform
QII to Develop Energy-First Data Center Campuses in "Second Chapter" for QTS Founder
Chad Williams is back, and he’s ready to build more data centers.
A year after departing as CEO of QTS Data Centers, Williams has unveiled the details of his new venture.
QII is an infrastructure and energy company that will develop powered campuses for AI factories, advanced manufacturing, and other energy-intensive operations. The company plans to build projects ranging from 100 megawatts to multi-gigawatt scale.
Williams sees QII as a second chapter in his entrepreneurial journey. He founded QTS and guided it through huge growth and ultimately an acquisition by investment titan Blackstone. At the time of his departure last April, Blackstone valued the QTS platform at $60 billion.
But Williams believes the AI boom is laying the groundwork for a new technology landscape.
“I’ve never seen an industry as ready to change as this one,” he said in an interview Thursday. “The world’s about to change, and I’m ready to lead the charge. I couldn’t be more excited.”
A New Model for a Constrained World
QII is part of Quality Growth Companies (QGC), a family office and business-building platform founded by Chad and Jeannie Williams, which also includes a foundation and motorsports arm.
The new development platform is positioned at the intersection of two forces reshaping the data center landscape: the explosive demand for AI compute capacity, and the primacy of power as the major constraint on deployment speed.
The company’s full name is Quality Infratech Intelligence. Its core thesis is that energy, land, capital, and execution can no longer operate on separate timelines.
QII says it will follow a “power first” infrastructure strategy, with power availability and substations secured upfront, and integrating zoning, entitlements, and utility access so sites are ready to deploy.
“Energy determines what gets built and when,” said Rich Voorberg, QII’s Chief Infratech Officer and former President of Siemens Energy North America. “You can have demand, land, and capital, but without a real path to grid connection, projects stall. QII brings power experience and utility relationships into the process early so customers can understand what is possible, what needs to happen first, and how to move forward with confidence.”
Williams said a holistic approach is needed to overcome the siloed nature of energy, development, and investment capital.
“We helped build one generation of digital infrastructure,” Williams said. “Now the industry requires a different approach. That’s why we built QII. We need to disrupt the model that shaped the past to prepare for the AI factories of the future.”
A Track Record of Growth
Many new platforms have entered the data center sector in recent years, seeking to capture a piece of the huge hyperscale investments in AI infrastructure.
In assessing QII’s prospects, it’s important to understand Williams’ track record. He founded QTS in 2003 with the purchase of a single data center in Kansas, growing it from a regional operator into one of the largest data center platforms in the world.
Williams took QTS public on the New York Stock Exchange in October 2013, raising $257 million in an IPO that established the company as a publicly traded REIT. After initially focusing on colocation for enterprises and government agencies, in 2018 QTS shifted its focus to hyperscale customers, kicking off an era of massive growth.
In 2021, Blackstone acquired QTS in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $10 billion. Williams stayed on as Chairman and CEO, continuing to lead the company through a period of extraordinary growth driven by AI and cloud demand.
Leading with Culture
When he discusses the success of his companies, Williams speaks about teamwork and the power of culture.
“It starts with people and trust,” he said. “I’m going to put the best people with the best culture in the right seats.”
Williams has assembled a leadership team with deep experience across energy, construction, and deal-making.
Voorberg brings utility-side relationships and grid expertise into the development process.
Alex Rose, former partner at Kirkland & Ellis, serves as General Counsel and Chief Commercial Officer.
Jeremy Bardin, who spent more than two decades at HITT Contracting (including as Co-President), joins the advisory board to advise on governance, delivery frameworks, and execution.
Williams is excited about the QII executive team, and confident that it can compete in a competitive market for data center talent.
“What I find is that people want a mission and purpose,” he said. “They want to be challenged by being part of something bigger than themselves.”
The QII Strategy
So what, where and how will QII be building?
The company is leading with an “Option-Preserving Platform” designed to offer flexibility as customers define their power and design requirements. The goal is a faster, more predictable path to design, construction and project delivery.
The QII Web site describes two notable deployment strategies:
A deployment model for hyperscale projects where power capacity, site control, and long-term expansion drive the work. “It gives operators and developers a clearer path to large-scale capacity, with key development steps already in motion before construction begins,” the company says.
A modular design to deliver prefabricated power and site infrastructure built off-site to reduce field time and shorten the path to energization. QII says this approach will “support projects that need faster capacity through a more flexible deployment path, especially where phasing or site conditions make traditional construction less practical.”
Williams expects plenty of interest from hyperscale clients who are familiar with his track record.
As for site selection, Williams is keeping QII’s plans under wraps for now. But he notes that QTS was a pioneer in the Atlanta market and remained the dominant player there for years ahead of the recent massive surge in data center development. QTS was also an early arrival in Richmond, setting the stage for a burst of hyperscale growth.
“Don’t be surprised if we make another new market before I’m done,” said Williams.
An interesting wrinkle in QII’s roadmap is its interest in developing advanced manufacturing projects, which could include infrastructure for robotics, advanced solar, or even semiconductors. Williams suspects that some of these energy-intensive campuses could require 200 to 300 megawatts of power.
“In the U.S., we have a unique opportunity to lay a foundation, and to build what people need for this next generation for America,” said Williams. “These technologies will help define the next 250 years for America.
“We’re going to get a chance to usher in another generation of change,” he added. “You’ve got to innovate and adapt. It’s going to be fun to be part of it.”