🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Most of Aligned’s 5 GW capacity may not ease AI bottlenecks soon

• A deal covers over 5 GW of operational and planned capacity across 50 campuses yet Aligned’s site lists AI and high-performance computing (HPC) plus cloud plus enterprise uses without saying how much is AI-ready with liquid cooling 12.
• S&P Global projects U.S. data center power rising from 61.8 GW in 2025 to 134.4 GW by 2030, which makes 5 GW about 4% of 2030 demand and roughly 7% of the growth from 2025 3.
• Industry reports say utility interconnection plus power delivery waits of about 2 to 6 years, with some cases taking seven years 45. That pushes many planned sites to 2027 through 2029 45.
• A 73% pre-lease rate (space contracted before completion) across North America’s 8 GW construction pipeline means most new colocation capacity (multi-tenant data centers customers rent rather than own) is taken, capping near-term options in core markets 6.

AI density speeds cooling and power upgrades

• Aligned markets patented plus patent-pending cooling, including DeltaFlow liquid cooling that moves fluid to pull heat from chips for dense GPU racks, and Deloitte finds 90% of data center respondents prioritize innovation for efficiency 75.
• Vendors and engineers see room in metros like Northern Virginia and Chicago, where first-half 2025 (H1 2025) absorption (net leasing) hit 1,015 megawatts (MW) 65.
• Developers are shifting builds into secondary or tertiary markets for power or lower costs, seeking faster delivery, yet those areas capture only a fraction of colocation demand 6.