Week in Review, 20 December 2025

Senate heavyweights launch probes into data center power costs and construction

The regulatory threat level has escalated from grassroots petitions to direct inquiries from Senators Sanders and Warren, potentially foreshadowing price controls or federal construction pauses.

Data Center Knowledge → TechRepublic → Bisnow → The Register → The Register →

Google advances TPU roadmap and secures UK/Africa expansion

Google is aggressively building a full-stack alternative to Nvidia dependence via its Trillium and Ironwood chips, while simultaneously securing critical geographic footholds in Dublin, the UK, and Africa.

Data Center Frontier → Global Data Center Hub → TechRepublic → Bisnow →

AWS buys coal plant for $265M and centralizes AGI leadership

Amazon is aggressively securing brownfield power assets while simultaneously restructuring its internal hierarchy to treat AGI as a distinct organizational priority alongside standard cloud services.

Data Center Knowledge → Data Center Knowledge → The Register →

Micron warns of memory shortages as server demand outstrips fabrication capacity

A critical supply chain warning for procurement teams; tight supply in DRAM/NAND will likely drive up server costs and extend lead times for AI clusters through 2026.

The Register → The Register →

Nvidia acquires workload scheduler Slurm to tighten grip on HPC software stack

By owning the industry-standard scheduler for supercomputing, Nvidia moves to secure the software orchestration layer, potentially optimizing it exclusively for its own hardware to deepen its competitive moat.

The Register →

Ireland lifts grid moratorium but forces new facilities to be fully self-sufficient

This creates a new regulatory model for constrained markets: development is permitted only if operators bring their own power generation and storage, effectively shifting grid capital costs to the private sector.

Data Center Knowledge →

KKR pours billions into Brookfield-backed Compass Datacenters

Following rumors of PE interest, this deal confirms that massive capital pools are now co-investing rather than competing, signaling that the capital requirements for AI infrastructure exceed what single firms can sustain.

Bisnow →