Originally posted on Compu Dynamics.
The most important change happening in data centers today isn’t simply the rise of AI or the increasing use of GPUs. It’s the structural shift in how data centers are designed, integrated, and operated. The traditional model that separated mechanical systems, electrical distribution, and compute infrastructure into distinct zones is giving way to something far more interconnected.
McKinsey & Company in their recent study projects global data center demand will grow at roughly 22% per year through 2030, reaching approximately 220 gigawatts of capacity — nearly six times the footprint of 2020. And nearly half of all non-IT capital spending in these facilities is now allocated to power and cooling infrastructure, not servers themselves.
That trend reflects a clear reality: in the AI era, performance depends on the environment in which compute operates. It’s not just how many GPUs you deploy; it’s how efficiently power is delivered, how heat is captured and removed, and how seamlessly these systems respond to dynamic workloads.
For decades, data centers were arranged like a campus of independent systems. Mechanical equipment lived in dedicated rooms, electrical systems occupied another area, and compute racks sat in the white space. Each discipline could be planned and operated more or less independently because the demands were steady and predictable.
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