An Inside Look at the Net-Zero Data Center Trend

Story by Sean M. Kerner

Key Points:

• Saudi Arabia-based data center developer DataVolt is investing $5 billion in a net-zero AI data center campus to support Neom, the futuristic city at the northern tip of the Red Sea.
• Neom is part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 project, the Kingdom’s broad initiative to diversify its economy and reduce reliance on revenue from fossil fuels.
• The latest data center will be built in Oxagon, Neom’s industrial zone on the Red Sea coast. Oxagon will purportedly include access to cost?competitive renewable energy sources, including green hydrogen, and benefits from subsea fiber connectivity.
• The facility's target capacity is 1.5 GW, and the power will be supplied entirely from renewable energy sources. As such, the project is set to achieve net?zero carbon emissions.
• While renewable energy sources are a core element of achieving a net-zero position, it is not the only requirement. Dave Williams , senior principal at PAE Engineers, a sustainable design firm, told Data Center Knowledge that geography plays a crucial role in data center design and construction.

“Data center operators are adopting net-zero pledges and the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact as ambitious and strategic tools to adhere to regulatory pressures to curb energy demand as well as meet global decarbonization goals by 2030 and beyond,” Rithika Thomas , senior analyst at ABI Research , told Data Center Knowledge.

Welcome to Data Center Knowledge Discoveries!

You already know that every day at Data Center Knowledge brings advice, trends and strategies for data center professionals on how to design, build, and manage world-class data centers.

That means original reporting from our team of journalists and unique commentary you won’t see anywhere else! But in case you missed them, here are some of our other must-read favorites from this week:

The Future of Data Center Design

Story by Nathan Eddy

Key Points:

• As municipalities seek to attract and support new data center developments, they’re also taking a more active approach to the aesthetic impact these buildings have – particularly in areas with high visibility or residential proximity, such as Santa Clara, California, or Ashburn, Virginia.
• Engagement with governmental and regulatory bodies is growing as questions arise about the judicious use of resources, including power, water and land, and methods to integrate digital infrastructure into the energy resources of communities.
• Kristen Vosmaer , managing director of data center work dynamics at 仲量联行 , explained that initial conversations about data center design often take place during the due diligence stage of development. This is when stakeholders assess not just site logistics, such as power and fiber access, but also regulatory requirements and community impact.
• In urban settings, edge data centers present unique challenges and opportunities. Security concerns remain a barrier to integrating data centers with mixed-use spaces such as offices or residential units.

Rewinding Broadcom's Acquisition of VMWare

Story by Chris Tozzi

Key Points:

• The 博通 deal didn't completely eviscerate the VMware product line and customer base as some folks predicted. Nor did it lead to ongoing waves of layoffs at the company. But it certainly did upend certain corners of the cloud computing market, not least by apparently driving more ex-VMware customers toward open source alternatives.
• Quantifying exactly how much pricing for VMware products climbed following the acquisition is difficult because Broadcom hasn't released data about what clients were paying before and after the deal.
• Given Broadcom's apparent interest in leveraging its VMware purchase to grow revenues and, presumably, increase profits, the acquisition spawned widespread predictions of layoffs for VMware employees. Some of those predictions were true. When the acquisition closed, Broadcom announced that more than 2,100 people were losing their jobs.
• According to a community survey, the open source hypervisors KVM and Xen were the "preferred" solutions of 70% of respondents interested in migrating from VMware. Commercial VMware alternatives were less popular.

Cisco's Latest Bid for Enhanced Security

Story by Wylie Wong

Key Points:

• To enhance security, 思科 has embedded two technologies on its new switches: Cisco Hypershield security software and an AMD Pensando data processing unit (DPU), which will handle security-related tasks.
• Analysts say data center operators will find the new smart switches appealing for their ability to simplify networks by integrating security features. Historically, facility owners had to deploy security capabilities such as firewalls on a separate overlay network, said Zeus Kerravala , founder and principal analyst at ZK Research .
• Cisco, which announced the new switches at the Cisco Live conference in Amsterdam, Netherlands, yesterday (February 11), has become the second network equipment maker to incorporate a DPU into its switches to provide security services, said Steven J. Schuchart Jr. , principal analyst for enterprise networking at GlobalData .
• Cisco’s first N9300 Smart Switch, with 24 100G ports, ships this spring. A top-of-rack model (48×25G, 2×100G, 6×400G) arrives this summer. Pricing has not been announced.

Cracking the Code to Data Center Power Shortages

Story by Drew Robb

Key Points:

• This year’s Baker Hughes Annual Meeting in Florence, Italy, highlighted just how far interest in data centers has expanded beyond the IT sector.
• A large crowd of delegates from the energy sector gathered for a breakout session on data centers last week, where the discussion centered on the strain generative AI is placing on power infrastructure.
• “The data center market was growing steadily due to the cloud and has been supercharged by AI,” said Jeffrey Tapley , COO of data center owner-operator Digital Realty . “Three years ago, we had an oversupply of data centers, but AI is now pushing up price rates for data center space, which is doubling in some markets.”
• Another key factor in data center site selection is proximity to the natural gas network. Tapley noted that gas power is a more viable option for facilities located near existing pipelines, making it easier to justify investment in onsite generation.
• Amid discussions of AI's surging power needs, a new development out of China – DeepSeek AI – promises to significantly cut energy consumption. But will it change the long-term outlook?

Major Moves Inside the Industry

Story by James Walker

The Data Center Knowledge News Roundup brings you the latest news and developments across the data center industry – from investments and mergers to security threats and industry trends.

Key Points:

• Making good on predictions that 10 GW of new capacity will come online in 2025, the past month has brought a wave of fresh data center investment announcements.
• You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone in tech who hasn’t heard about the $500 billion Stargate announcement. Unveiled on January 21, the initiative – backed by ソフトバンク , OpenAI , 甲骨文 , and MGX , with Arm , 微软 , and 英伟达 as key partners – aims to develop AI infrastructure across the U.S. Plans include 10 data centers, with one already under construction in Texas, and the potential to expand to 20, according to Oracle CTO Larry Ellison.
• In other hyperscale news, Meta Platforms said it will invest as much as $65 billion in projects related to?AI?in 2025. The plans include building a giant new data center and increasing hiring in AI teams, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said. Not long after the announcement, the company said its data center in Mesa, Ariz., is now online.
• In Europe, the UK is planning special districts for constructing data centers. The country will explore dedicating?nuclear energy?to the sites as part of a Labour government project to boost technology growth and the ecosystem for AI.?
• In Asia-Pacific data center news, India’s largest business conglomerate, Reliance Industries, is building what may turn out to be the world's largest data center by capacity, according to a?Bloomberg?report.

Latest Major Tech Layoff Announcements

Original Story by Jessica C. Davis, Updated by Brandon Taylor

Key Points:

• As COVID drove everyone online, tech companies hired like crazy. Now we are hitting the COVID tech bust as tech giants shed jobs by the thousands.
• Updated February 14, 2025 with layoff announcements from Sophos , Zepz , Unity , Meta , Justworks and Bird .
• Check back regularly for updates to InformationWeek's IT job layoffs tracker.

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