BorderPlex’s $165B Bet Redraws AI Map; UK Greenlights £10B Hub; Brazil Secures Grid for $2.8B Projects; Saudi Targets 2026 AI Launch
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15 Mistakes That Kill Data Center Projects (and How to Avoid Them) [Most data center projects don’t fail from lack of demand. They fail from operator mistakes. In this piece, we share 15 silent killers of data center deals and how disciplined builders can avoid them.]
Top 15 Reports Shaping Global Data Center Strategy in H1 2025 [From AI’s power problem to the $73B M&A wave this is your midyear map for data center investing]
What H1 2025 Just Taught Us About the Next Decade of Data Centers [Strategic recap of the 15 most important shifts and what they signal about the road ahead.]
Hyperscale vs. Colocation: Strategic Portfolio Considerations for Data Center Investors [A deep dive into the tradeoffs between hyperscale and colocation strategies and how top investors are balancing both to optimize for returns, resilience, and exit optionality.]
In This Issue
Global Data Center News Roundup – The biggest AI and cloud infrastructure developments shaping the industry this week.
The Physical Layer is Now Strategic – From BorderPlex’s $165B desert campus to Amarillo’s nuclear-powered 11GW build, land and power are no longer inputs they’re the decisive advantage.
Sovereigns Are Building, Not Waiting – Spanning Saudi Arabia’s 2026 AI campus through Brazil’s grid-approved projects, governments are asserting direct control over digital infrastructure, treating compute as a national security asset.
Hyperscale Benchmarks Are Resetting – $100B campuses in Kansas City, A$16B green financings in APAC, and multi-billion expansions across Iberia show that the definition of “large-scale” is being rewritten every quarter.
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This week’s headlines reveal a decisive shift from opportunistic growth to deliberate control. Operators and governments alike are no longer waiting for capacity to emerge they’re securing the fundamentals of the AI economy upfront: land, power, and capital.
In North America, $100B+ projects are no longer exceptions but signals of a new floor. Europe is expanding beyond London’s M25, while Asia-Pacific’s sustainable financings prove capital innovation can scale as fast as demand.
In MENA and South America, sovereigns are stepping in directly, ensuring their economies are not left at the mercy of hyperscalers.
The common thread? Yesterday’s records are today’s baselines. For investors, operators, and policymakers, the real risk isn’t missing the next press release, it’s underestimating how quickly the minimum viable scale of AI infrastructure is rising.
Global Perspective: What’s Happening in Data Centers Around the World
North America
BorderPlex Bets $165B on New Mexico AI Super-Campus
BorderPlex Digital Assets is planning one of the largest AI infrastructure projects in history along the US–Mexico border. The scale forces immediate conversations around grid expansion, water rights, and how secondary markets become AI corridors.
Kansas City Secures $100B Data Center Megaproject
Kansas City’s approval of a $100B campus positions the Midwest as a rising AI hub, diversifying away from Virginia and Texas. The move ties local infrastructure policy directly to national competitiveness in AI.
Amarillo’s 11GW Nuclear AI Campus Moves Toward Licensing
Fermi and Westinghouse are advancing SMR licensing for a Texas-based 11GW AI campus. This could establish nuclear baseload as the model for future sovereign-scale compute clusters.
Europe
QTS Green-Lit for £10B Northumberland Data Center Buildout
Northumberland has approved enabling works for QTS’s £10B hyperscale project. The development signals a shift away from London’s overheated M25 market to the UK’s northeast corridor.
Blackstone Eyes $5B Expansion of Spanish Data Center Platform
Blackstone is doubling down on Iberia with a $5B expansion plan. The investment underscores Spain’s growing role as a Mediterranean AI and subsea cable gateway.
Digital Realty Breaks Ground in Rome to Boost Med Connectivity
Rome’s new campus will anchor Mediterranean subsea routes and provide an alternative hyperscale hub for Southern Europe, tying cloud growth to regional connectivity upgrades.
Asia-Pacific
AirTrunk Closes A$16B Sustainable Financing for APJ Growth
AirTrunk has secured the largest green financing in the region to accelerate hyperscale expansion across Asia–Pacific. The deal establishes ESG-linked debt as a competitive advantage in scaling AI capacity.
Chindata to Build 1.2GW Campus in Ningxia, China
Chindata is launching a 1.2GW cluster in north-central China, using renewable corridors and inland siting strategies to support Beijing’s push for sovereign AI compute.
Viettel Commits $1B to Data Center and R&D Hub in Vietnam
Viettel is investing $1B in new capacity and research, positioning the country as an emerging digital hub in Southeast Asia.
Middle East & Africa
Saudi Arabia Targets Early 2026 AI Campus with US Chips
Saudi Arabia has announced plans to launch AI data centers powered by US chips by 2026. The initiative fast-tracks Riyadh’s digital sovereignty strategy and raises competitive pressure in MENA’s AI race.
Qatar’s MEEZA Secures $220M Financing to Expand AI Infra
MEEZA, backed by Dukhan Bank, has raised QAR 800M to scale its AI and data center footprint. The financing signals growing Gulf investor appetite for AI-driven infrastructure.
South America
Dataspots Wins Grid Approval for $2.8B Brazilian Projects
Brazil’s Dataspots secured interconnection rights for a $2.8B trio of projects. Grid access transforms the developments from proposals into executable builds, underlining why power connectivity is the bottleneck in Latin America.
Querétaro Emerges as Mexico’s AI-Ready Hub
Mexico’s Querétaro state continues its rise as a hyperscale hub, fueled by constraints in the US grid and growing subsea cable connectivity. This cements Mexico’s role as North America’s southern edge market.
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