F E A T U R E

Legacy construction models can’ t keep pace with modern data centre demand. But with digital-first approaches we can build scalable and sustainable new facilities that are future-proof from the outset, says Nayef Bou Chaaya, AVEVA Vice President, Middle East, Africa and Turkey.

aster, cleaner, stronger:

It’ s part of a push to meet spiralling compute needs. Artificial Intelligence( AI) workloads are surging nearly 20 % year-over-year, McKinsey estimates, but construction simply can’ t keep pace.

Deployment times for traditional data centres – the physical backbone of AI – still average 18-36 months. That’ s despite aggregate spending of US $ 1.8 trillion, new announcements everywhere from the US to Saudi Arabia and the UAE and projected global capacity growth of 15 % according to JLL.

Current construction models remain anchored to outdated site-by-site builds, slowed by fragmented systems, protracted permitting and legacy power and cooling rigs.

Much of the conversation around data centre demand focuses on their energy needs. Average power densities have more than doubled in just two years and blackouts linked to energy spikes are projected to increase hundred-fold in the US alone by 2035.

AT A GLANCE: Data centres at digital speed

• AI workloads: growing nearly 20 % year-on-year

• Build times: traditional data centres take 18 – 36 months to deploy

• Global spend: US $ 1.8 trillion invested in data centre infrastructure

• Energy density: more than doubled in two years

• Outages: blackouts linked to energy spikes expected to rise 100x in the US by 2035

• Digital-first builds: projects can be delivered up to 49 % faster with unified workflows

• Sustainability: smart construction cuts energy use by 30 % and water consumption by 20 %

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