I recently had the opportunity to participate in an executive panel at a leadership forum hosted by BWG Global, where I joined other industry peers to discuss the future of U.S. digital infrastructure.

While that conversation sparked some valuable dialogue, what follows are my personal takeaways and perspectives — shaped by both the forum and my ongoing work with operators, developers, and investors navigating today’s shifting landscape.

That session, combined with recent market activity, highlighted a few emerging realities reshaping the industry:

• The opportunity is still massive.
• The stakes are even higher.
• And the gap between winners and everyone else is widening fast.

If you are an operator, developer, or investor, here is what you need to know.

Power Is not Just a Problem — It is The Problem

Today, growth is not limited by real estate or customer demand — it is limited by power.

Across major markets, securing megawatts of grid capacity is harder — and slower — than ever. Companies that delay projects or hesitate to commit risk losing their power reservations permanently.

For hyperscalers, pausing a campus build is manageable; they have other sites in their pipeline. But for mid-market players, missing a power window could mean missing an entire growth cycle.

Bottom line:
If you do not own the megawatts, you do not own the future.

Scale or Stall: Hyperscalers Are Driving the Market

The numbers tell the story:

• Hyperscalers now account for over 60% of all new data center absorption.
• Vacancy rates have dropped below 2% nationally, tightening competition for space.
• New deployments increasingly demand 40–60 kW per cabinet densities — far beyond traditional designs.

Operators who have not already retooled their strategy around hyperscale demand are finding themselves fighting brutal retail battles for small logos — or worse, losing out altogether.

Mid-market players face a choice: Adapt for hyperscale requirements or risk being left behind.

Investment Money Is Smart — and Less Forgiving

Yes, billions of dollars are still pouring into digital infrastructure.

But the nature of that money is changing:

• Large players like CoreWeave are taking billions in financing tied to aggressive AI growth projections.
• Investors are laser-focused on assets that align with AI, hyperscale density, and sustainable power models.

Retail-heavy portfolios are seeing longer sales cycles and softer valuations.

Meanwhile, securing power for new developments is now a three- to five-year process in many markets — not months.

Tariffs and higher borrowing costs are sharpening scrutiny on deals.

The "fast money" environment is gone.

Today, smart capital is seeking hyperscale-aligned, power-secured opportunities.

Hype vs. Reality: What’s Actually Happening

There is plenty of buzz in the market:
Liquid cooling. AI-optimized power management. Microgrid nuclear solutions.

Some of it is real — but much of it is still future-facing:

• Liquid cooling deployments are growing but remain a niche solution.
• Small nuclear and alternative energy systems are years away from mass commercial deployment.
• AI-driven power reduction tools, like China’s DeepSeek, remain largely unproven at operational scale.

Meanwhile, the need to build reliable, high-density facilities continues — and those demands are increasing faster than innovation can deliver.

Talent Pressures: A Growing Constraint on Growth

While infrastructure remains the headline story, the human side of the business is becoming just as critical.

• The demand for senior operational talent is outpacing supply, especially for hyperscale expertise.
• Sales teams are pivoting toward organic growth models as new logo opportunities tighten.
• Hiring timelines are stretching longer, with heavier competition for specialized skills.

The industry is not suffering from a lack of smart people — it is facing a new complexity:
Building, scaling, and selling in today’s hyperscale-driven environment demands specialized experience that was not required even five years ago.

Investment Strategy is Evolving — Fast

Alongside operators, the smartest investors are also shifting their approach to meet new realities in digital infrastructure.

• Power availability can now delay projects for three to five years, impacting deployment timelines and internal rates of return.
• Hyperscale requirements are driving higher capex models and operational complexity than many early forecasts anticipated.
• Site selection mistakes — especially around grid readiness and cooling density — are becoming costly and harder to correct.

Successful investors today are taking a more disciplined approach:
Validating sites earlier. Stress-testing power assumptions. Planning for density needs most portfolios were not originally built to handle.

At ANTARA, we support these strategies by providing operational, market, and technical guidance throughout the investment lifecycle — helping ensure that the decisions made today still hold up tomorrow.

What the Smart Money — and Smart Operators — Are Doing Now

From where we sit, the winners are already setting themselves apart by:

• Locking in power now, even for projects two or three years away.
• Designing for hyperscale densities — 40–60 kW per cabinet, not 15–20 kW.
• Investing in operational excellence, not just square footage.
• Targeting AI-driven, high-density workloads instead of legacy retail enterprise.

Waiting for certainty is a losing bet.
Those who move first — and move intelligently — will define the next decade of digital infrastructure.

How ANTARA Can Help
The ANTARA Group partners with data center, cloud, and digital infrastructure companies to drive growth, transformation, and operational excellence. From strategic M&A and revenue optimization to power resilience and go-to-market execution, we deliver targeted solutions that create immediate impact and lasting value.