Susana Schwartz
'Minor' components cause big problems for DCs
Shortages of transformers, switchgear, and batteries are holding up nearly half the planned data center builds in the U.S., and yet we hear more about GPUs and HBM than these “minor” components. Though they tend to get less attention, the physical infrastructure that powers and cools chips is becoming the critical bottleneck. What does that mean for supply chain and procurement managers? In today’s story, we outline 10 proactive actions to cut down the impact of 2- to 3-year lead times for copper- and steel-based components. Take a look, here.
Susana Schwartz
Technology Editor
RCRTech
AI Infrastructure Top Stories
Electrical component scarcity: Shortages of transformers, switchgear, and backup components are holding up nearly half of the planned data center projects in the U.S., so supply chain managers are taking a more proactive approach.
Amazon Globalstar deal: Amazon’s $11.6 billion acquisition of Globalstar deal accelerates the development of a distributed, high-speed, and secure connectivity layer necessary to fuel AI workloads, especially at the “edge”.
Synergy speaks to site selection: Texas and Midwest regions are set to account for 53% of new U.S. hyperscale capacity, up from 33%, says Synergy’s John Dinsdale in an RCRTech interview about the most dominant decision criteria.
AI Today: What You Need to Know
Shortening DC development times: Core AI Holdings and Allianca Group hope to accelerate the deployment of high-performance DC infrastructure by combining Core AI’s capital and AI-native strategies with Allianca’s DC construction experience.
Support for steel tariffs: Executives representing steel and aluminum production applauded a proclamation by President Donald Trump to ensure continued effectiveness and durability of the Section 232 tariffs on steel, aluminum and copper.
TIA AI addendum to ANSI/TIA-942: The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) announced a set of actions to help the industry meet AI‑era infrastructure requirements, including launch of a new AI addendum to the ANSI/TIA‑942.
Nscale – Microsft deal in Norway: Nscale expanded its agreement with Microsoft for its 230 MW Nscale Narvik campus, where it will add 30,000+ NVIDIA Rubin GPUs, making it one of the largest onshore infrastructure projects in Norway.
OpenAI in Norway : OpenAI has abandoned plans to rent compute capacity directly from Nscale’s Narvik campus, instead discussing the rental of compute from Microsoft, who will take up the spare capacity at the data center, per the above.
Fluidstack $1B round: AI data center startup Fluidstack is in talks for a $1 billion round at $18 billion valuation, months after hitting $7.5 billion. Google was considering kicking in $100 million to the round, The Wall Street Journal reported.
