AI data‑center buildout strains power
McKinsey/industry pieces cited in coverage show AI data‑center expansion is driving big growth in high‑density power demand and cooling—this trend is shifting trade flows and creating overlapping demand for electrified, high‑power industrial sites. Warehouses with upgraded power and cooling look set to attract not just logistics tenants but compute‑adjacent uses. (newsable.asianetnews.com) (openpr.com)
McKinsey’s Global Institute found shipments of AI hardware jumped roughly 40% in 2025 and that AI‑related goods accounted for about one‑third of global trade growth last year. (thehindubusinessline.com) The report also says the United States added roughly half of the world’s new data‑center capacity in 2025, with US imports of AI hardware surging about 66% as demand concentrated on American buildouts. (newsable.asianetnews.com) GPU-driven rack densities have crossed practical air‑cooling limits—operators report racks exceeding 120 kW and liquid cooling is being adopted for H200‑class deployments and anticipated Kyber‑class racks. (networkworld.com) Market trackers show coolant distribution units (CDUs) and liquid‑cooling equipment are growing rapidly: one market forecast values the CDU market near $1.06B in 2025 with projections to roughly $3.7B by 2031, while analysts count some 40 vendors entering the space. (intelmarketresearch.com) Southern California is already reshaping to meet AI power needs: regional capacity in SoCal stood near 335 MW and multiple industry briefs project that capacity could roughly double as new projects move through permitting and construction. (therealdeal.com) Los Angeles suburbs with unusually available or independent power—Vernon among them—are drawing data‑center proposals and 50‑MW+ projects, and logistics buildings with strengthened floors, higher ceilings and upgraded electrical infrastructure are now being marketed to compute‑adjacent users. (costar.com) Prologis has publicly accelerated its energy and digital‑infrastructure push, disclosing expansion of power capacity and multi‑billion‑dollar data‑center investments as it secures on‑site and contracted energy to support high‑power tenants. (ir.prologis.com) Grid and interconnection constraints are a material bottleneck—industry analyses report interconnection waits can exceed three years in some U.S. regions—driving developers toward on‑site generation, battery storage and pre‑built energy solutions that change site selection economics for industrial landlords. (intelligentcio.com)
