Data Centre Leadership Dinner
On the evening of 11th November in Mayfair, London, in partnership with Spectrum, Vault Partners curated a group of board-level leaders from across the European data centre supply chain for a peer group discussion over dinner and a unique networking opportunity. The evening focused on two core topics shaping the future of digital infrastructure.
Powering the data centre
The energy consumption of data centres is substantial, as power and cooling requirements are significant.
We explored the primary implications for the industry, including:
- Energy supply and cost as a factor in new data centre locations
- The role of batteries, and of alternative sources of energy (which can’t feed into the grid)
- The pros and cons of nuclear power as a solution
- Energy regulation
- The ageing electricity grid network
- The perception of data centres by politicians and the public, and the need for the industry to collectively present and justify its case
Deployment of capital
The data centre sector is attracting enormous investment. This segment of the discussion focused on:
- The difference between investing in infrastructure (typically offering a 7–8-year payback period) and investing in neoclouds and GPUs (where investors may see a 2–3-year return)
- Expectations around the expansion of the total addressable market for AI
- The key question of time to adoption: How quickly will enterprises begin to use AI at scale?
- Identifying the use cases: Where is the revenue coming from to sustain these significant CAPEX investments?
- The pattern of capital circulation, with the industry supporting itself through funding
- Data centre tenant renewal risk
- Credit risk
- Geopolitical risk
This event was co-hosted by Jeremy Sewell, Co-founder of Vault Partners, and Daniel Osmer, Managing Partner at Spectrum Executive Search.
