The Data Center Rundown
   people here now
Today's top stories in Data Center

The Data Center Rundown

May 1, 2026

 

Microsoft's Azure growth and a substantial backlog indicate that artificial intelligence demand is outpacing the capacity of data centers in terms of power, cooling, and construction.

Read at Data Center Knowledge→

More coverage at Data Center Knowledge →  Data Center Richness →  Data Center Richness →  Data Center Dynamics →

 
AI driving cloud market growth

The increasing adoption of artificial intelligence by corporations is driving a significant surge in demand for services from the world's largest data center provider.

Read at Bisnow→

Cloud spending reached $129 billion in the first quarter of 2026, marking the ninth consecutive period of growth and the highest rate seen since the fourth quarter of 2021, according to Synergy Research.

Read at Data Center Dynamics→

 

Should investors anticipate continued growth in cloud spending?

Samsung Electronics reported a Q1 2026 operating profit that surpassed its entire FY25 earnings, driven predominantly by strong demand in the memory market.

Read at Data Center Dynamics→

 

Naver is targeting the Saudi Arabian data center market, planning large-scale projects in response to the growing demand for digital infrastructure in the Middle East and emerging markets, as indicated by an agreement with Hanmi Global.

Read at Data Center Dynamics→

 
Hyperscale AI infrastructure investment

Hyperscaler dominance poses a significant threat to fiber investor returns through wholesale price collapse, vertical integration, IRU compression, and a focus on route selectivity, leading to emerging market scarcity.

Read at Global Data Center Hub→

Microsoft has brought 1GW of data center capacity online in the latest quarter and is on track to double its footprint within two years.

Read at Data Center Dynamics→

The infrastructure shift driven by two GPUs, stemming from AlexNet's signal and GPU density as a binding constraint, has led to five years of misallocated capital, fundamentally altering the positioning for early movers in the market.

Read at Global Data Center Hub→

 

Celestica has launched new network switches featuring 64 ports of 1.6 terabits per second Ethernet, designed to meet the demands of high-bandwidth applications and coinciding with the release of Nvidia's 1.6 Tbps ConnectX-9 NICs.

Read at The Register→

 

Anthropic is generating higher revenue from large language models than OpenAI, despite having significantly fewer users, indicating a market division between companies that prioritize user engagement and those that focus on monetization.

Read at The Register→

 
Chatter
The view from Reddit
“Don’t make the business’s risk your own.”

An individual contributor is advised to disengage from business processes they deem flawed after offering expert opinions, as their responsibility ends once advice is given, preventing undue stress and conflict.

Read at r/sysadmin→

 

Should employees disengage from flawed business processes after advising?

“Has anyone else left the datacenter industry for something else? I did last July and never been happier.”

A former data center industry professional expresses newfound happiness after leaving the field and seeks to connect with others who have made similar career transitions.

Read at r/datacenter→

“SysAdmin can't do his job right.”

A sysadmin's colleague's abysmal performance, characterized by poor password hygiene, chronic lateness, and a disregard for cybersecurity, is hindering the team's ability to perform their duties.

Read at r/sysadmin→

 

A newly identified China-linked threat group has infiltrated over a dozen critical networks in Poland and Asian countries since December 2024, with activity detected as recently as this month, raising concerns shortly before the Trump-Xi summit.

Read at The Register→

 

Should EU member states adopt open-source age verification for child safety?

 

Subscribe

Get The Data Center Rundown delivered to your inbox.

Free. Unsubscribe anytime.

The Data Center Rundown Trending topics Issue archive Companies & orgs About Privacy Terms
© 2026 Rundown Club
For Executives & Investors For IT & Cloud Architects For Infrastructure Engineers For Operators & Facility Managers For Sustainability & Compliance For Vendors & Service Providers