Mark Daly, head of technology and innovation at BloombergNEF, guides a panel featuring notable guests. Steven Carlini from Schneider Electric discusses cutting-edge cooling solutions for energy-hungry data centers. Will Conkling of Google shares insights on renewable energy procurement strategies. Kleber Costa from AES Corporation addresses the challenges of growth in data centers. Lastly, Darwesh Singh from Bolt Graphics talks about GPU advancements that boost efficiency. They unpack how the rising demands from AI are reshaping energy management in this tech landscape.
The surge in demand for data centers, driven by AI's computational needs, necessitates innovative energy acquisition and infrastructure planning.
Advancements in energy-efficient technology, like DeepSeek's innovations, are becoming crucial for sustainable growth in the data center sector.
Deep dives
Growing Demand for Data Centers
The demand for data centers has surged, driven primarily by the increasing computational requirements of artificial intelligence applications. Companies are facing pressure to scale their data centers rapidly to meet the computing power needed for AI model training and deployment. This accelerates the shift towards AI-focused architectures that require enhanced cooling and power solutions, such as high-capacity IT racks. Industry leaders indicate that the ongoing transition in computing power needs significantly impacts how and where these data centers are constructed.
Energy Supply Challenges
As data centers grow in number and scale, securing adequate energy supply emerges as a major challenge for the industry. Companies must now navigate a more complex landscape where traditional methods of energy acquisition may no longer suffice due to rising demands. This includes forming partnerships with energy providers to ensure the necessary infrastructure can support future growth. Substantial capital investments and strategic planning will be crucial to avoid stranding assets and ensure that energy supply meets the projected data center load demands.
Geographic Shifts and Infrastructure Needs
The geographical deployment of data centers is evolving due to energy availability and infrastructural constraints. Rather than being located primarily near large urban populations for low latency, new AI applications allow data centers to be situated in more remote locations with sufficient power supplies. However, placement still relies heavily on the availability of related infrastructure, such as fiber optics and skilled labor. As such, companies must balance the efficiency of locating away from urban centers against operational feasibility.
Innovations in Energy Efficiency
Recent advancements in energy efficiency technology, particularly in relation to AI processing capabilities, are expected to drive value in the data center sector. Innovations like DeepSeq's work have shown that substantial gains can be achieved in processing power without proportionally increasing energy consumption. Companies are beginning to emphasize the importance of energy-efficient hardware as part of their growth strategies. This push for better hardware and optimized software solutions indicates a shift in industry focus toward sustainability as a core principle in future data center deployments.
Energy-hungry data centers are on the rise. Power demand driven by artificial intelligence has been met by an increase in power purchase agreements (PPAs) for low-carbon energy. Meanwhile, DeepSeek has reduced demand through more efficient computations. So what is driving decision making at tech companies that work in the AI and data center space? At the 2025 BloombergNEF Summit San Francisco, Mark Daly, BNEF’s head of technology and innovation, moderated a panel titled “Data Center Dynamics.” This episode brings listeners that panel, which featured Steven Carlini, chief advocate of data centers and AI at Schneider Electric; Will Conkling, head of data center energy for the Americas and EMEA at Google; Kleber Costa, chief commercial officer at AES Corporation; and Darwesh Singh, founder and CEO at Bolt Graphics.
To learn more about BNEF’s Summits taking place around the world and to see recordings of BNEF Talks at previous Summits, head to https://about.bnef.com/summit/.