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The Data Center Rundown

Jan 27, 2026

Emerging topics we picked up on in the 79 Data Center articles we scanned this week:

  • Hyperscalers and regulators pivot to 'pay-your-way' model for grid upgrades
  • Data center demand forces manufacturers to deprioritize consumer and automotive silicon
  • Thermal limits emerge as primary constraint over power capacity for AI assets

Read the full Week in Review →

 
Designing and securing AI infrastructure

Revisiting data center design principles is crucial for effectively architecting infrastructure to support scaled artificial intelligence workloads requiring real-time intelligence processing.

Read at Data Center Dynamics→

In a sponsored discussion, Kat Sullivan interviews Sara Zawoyski of nVent regarding strategic design approaches for protecting critical data center infrastructure and how artificial intelligence is impacting these protective measures.

Read at Data Center Dynamics→

An interview with Jim Black, senior director at Microsoft, detailed the critical mission of the newly formed Security Industry Association advisory board to address escalating data center security challenges.

Read at Data Center Knowledge→

 

Should the new SIA advisory board focus primarily on establishing mandatory security standards for all data centers?

 
Financing AI infrastructure expansion

Nvidia is committing $2 billion to CoreWeave to secure 5 gigawatts of additional data center capacity, reinforcing its strategy to lock down computing resources amid soaring demand for its graphical processing units.

Read at Data Center Knowledge→

Humain and Infra have established a non-binding agreement for a $1.2 billion financing package designated to support the development of 250MW of data center capacity in Saudi Arabia.

Read at Data Center Dynamics→

Sharon AI secured a $500 million debt facility from USD.AI intended to fund the expansion of its artificial intelligence infrastructure across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.

Read at Data Center Dynamics→

 

Microsoft Inference Chip

Microsoft has introduced its Maia 200 inference chip, which is fabricated using TSMC's 3-nanometer process and is engineered to deliver accelerated artificial intelligence inference processing capabilities.

Read at Data Center Knowledge→

 

EU X Grok Probe

The European Commission has initiated an investigation into the social media platform X following concerns that its generative artificial intelligence model, Grok, allowed users to create sexually explicit imagery, including child sexual abuse material.

Read at The Register→

 

Should the EU impose severe penalties on X over Grok's inability to prevent explicit deepfake content generation?

 

DayOne Finland Expansion

DayOne is developing a new 560 megawatt data center project north of Helsinki, consolidating its Finnish expansion less than a month after securing over $2 billion in new funding.

Read at Data Center Knowledge→

More coverage at Data Center Knowledge →

 
Chatter
The view from Reddit
“What is The Longest You Have Let a Windows Update Run and be Successful?”

A technician shares a harrowing tale of monitoring a critical legacy server update for over 24 hours under extreme customer pressure, contrasting it with the current slow progress of updating an old laptop.

Read at r/sysadmin→

“Do you allow any gear racked backwards?”

An employee recounts being reprimanded by a supervisor for flagging a critical thermal issue caused by customer equipment exhausting hot air into the cold aisle, leading to a confrontation over prioritizing root cause analysis over temporary HVAC adjustments.

Read at r/datacenter→

“I feel like I missed out on the Golden Age of IT work”

A network engineer at a hyperscaler laments the loss of hands-on troubleshooting in the modern era of automated tooling, romanticizing the perceived 'golden age' of manually fixing infrastructure.

Read at r/sysadmin→

 

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