Texas’ 11GW Megacampus; OpenAI Bets on India; Gibraltar’s £1.8B Gateway; Brazil’s $1B ESG Push
Welcome to Global Data Center Hub. Join investors, operators, and innovators reading to stay ahead of the latest trends in the data center sector in developed and emerging markets globally.
If you’re not a subscriber, here’s what you’ve missed so far:
North America: The World’s Largest AI & Data Center Buildout Surges Past $500B [In H1 2025, North America led the AI race with $500B+ in data center commitments, rewiring its energy and digital core.]
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. Here are 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.]
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 Macquarie’s 11GW Amarillo campus to France’s nuclear-backed supply deal, control over land and power is becoming the decisive advantage.
Sovereigns Are Building, Not Waiting – India’s 1GW OpenAI project, Gibraltar’s £1.8B digital gateway, and Brazil’s $1.02B ESG financing show how governments and national champions are reshaping infrastructure for sovereignty and scale.
Hyperscale Benchmarks Are Resetting – Australia’s 850MW Sydney JV, Ireland’s 200MW campus, and Thailand’s 100MW ASEAN anchor prove that yesterday’s milestones are now today’s baselines.
Dear Friends,
This week’s headlines make one thing clear: the age of opportunistic builds is over. We’re entering an era where data centers are not just real estate, they are sovereign assets, national strategies, and trillion-dollar power bets.
From Texas’s record-setting 11GW Amarillo campus to India’s first gigawatt-scale OpenAI facility, the race is no longer about who builds fastest but who controls the physical levers of intelligence: power, land, and connectivity.
Europe’s nuclear-backed supply deals, Gibraltar’s £1.8B bid to become a Mediterranean AI gateway, and Brazil’s $1.02B ESG-linked raise all point to the same trend: control of infrastructure is shifting from speculative growth to intentional sovereignty.
For investors, operators, and policymakers, the takeaway is stark: yesterday’s milestones, 200MW campuses, $1B financings, are today’s baseline. The future will belong to those who don’t just follow demand but preemptively secure the strategic resources that AI requires.
Global Perspective: What’s Happening in Data Centers Around the World
North America
Macquarie’s 11GW Texas Bet Signals AI Megacampus Era
Macquarie’s investment into Fermi America’s Amarillo site isn’t just big, it’s sovereign-scale. At 11GW, this single campus rivals national grid demand, positioning Texas as the new ground zero for AI compute. For investors, it’s a sign that infrastructure is no longer a niche asset it’s becoming the defining frontier of capital deployment.
ENGIE-Prometheus Alliance Fuses Power and Compute
French energy giant ENGIE is joining forces with Prometheus Hyperscale to co-develop AI-ready data centers in Texas. The partnership signals a new model where energy providers aren’t just suppliers, but full-stack infrastructure players reshaping who controls the AI economy’s bottlenecks.
AVAIO and Schneider Target Next-Gen U.S. Builds
AVAIO Digital is partnering with Schneider Electric to design AI-optimized facilities in the U.S., highlighting how technology, sustainability, and operational efficiency are becoming table stakes for new entrants. This convergence could reset expectations for cost, reliability, and environmental footprint.
Europe
Ireland’s Echelon Pushes Forward with 200MW Campus
Despite regulatory pushback and moratoriums, Echelon is breaking ground on a 200MW campus outside Dublin. The move underscores how Ireland remains central to Europe’s AI infrastructure map even as policymakers wrestle with grid and community pressures.
Gibraltar Stakes Claim with £1.8B Data Center Project
Pelagos Data Centres’ £1.8 billion development through 2033 will transform Gibraltar into a Mediterranean AI gateway. Beyond capacity, the project is a geopolitical bet: leveraging geography, subsea connectivity, and tax advantages to position the microstate as a digital sovereign.
France Goes Nuclear to Power AI Growth
Data4 has inked a 40MW nuclear energy deal with EDF to supply its French portfolio. In a region struggling with carbon targets, nuclear-backed AI infrastructure could become the competitive differentiator blending sovereignty, sustainability, and scale.
Asia-Pacific
OpenAI Plots 1GW India Campus, Cementing AI Sovereignty
OpenAI’s plan for a gigawatt-scale data center in India is a landmark move. It would mark the company’s largest physical footprint outside the U.S. and accelerate India’s ambition to be a sovereign compute hub, while pressuring policy to align energy and infrastructure readiness.
NextDC Hunts Partner for 850MW Sydney Megacampus
Australia is stepping onto the global AI stage with NextDC’s proposed 850MW joint venture in Sydney. The project could reposition the country as a Southern Hemisphere hyperscale leader and attract sovereign and pension fund capital hungry for scale and stability.
Thailand’s Digital Edge Campus Reinforces ASEAN Growth
Digital Edge’s groundbreaking of a 100MW campus in Thailand confirms Southeast Asia’s pivot from Singapore into emerging hubs. With subsea connectivity and regional spillover demand, Bangkok is fast becoming a strategic anchor in ASEAN’s AI network.
South America
ODATA Lands $1.02B to Drive Brazil’s Sustainable Compute
ODATA’s financing round is Latin America’s largest this year and is tied directly to ESG commitments. It reinforces Brazil’s role as the region’s sovereign-scale hub while showing global lenders are ready to back sustainability as a competitive edge.
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Global Data Center Hub: Every week, we break down the trends shaping the future of data centers, cloud, and AI, from emerging markets to hyperscale battlegrounds.
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