{"id":4307,"date":"2026-06-25T10:30:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T07:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/?p=4307"},"modified":"2026-06-29T10:32:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T07:32:29","slug":"weekly-news-blast-25th-june-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/weekly-news-blast-25th-june-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly News Blast – 25th June 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Welcome to the GDCA Weekly News Blast! Check out the latest industry news from the GCC region below. Have any Middle East data centres news you\u2019d like to share? Email yours to imogen@gulfdca.com<\/a> with NEWS<\/strong> in the subject line.<\/div>\n
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Industry News<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Global cities launch data centre sustainability pact<\/i><\/b><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

A coalition of major cities, including London, Mumbai, Melbourne, and Nairobi, has launched the Global Urban Data Centres Pact, a new framework designed to guide how data centres are planned, permitted, and integrated into urban environments. Announced during London Climate Action Week, the initiative reflects growing scrutiny of the sector\u2019s environmental footprint as AI-driven demand accelerates worldwide. The pact calls for greater use of clean energy, improved resource efficiency, stronger community engagement, and closer alignment between data centre developments and wider city planning objectives. Beyond its sustainability focus, the initiative signals a broader shift in how local governments are approaching digital infrastructure, with cities seeking a greater role in shaping where and how future data centre capacity is deployed. As demand for AI infrastructure continues to grow, developers and operators may face increasing expectations to demonstrate not only technical and economic value, but also environmental performance and tangible benefits for local communities. The pact highlights the growing importance of community acceptance, sustainability, and social licence to operate as emerging considerations alongside traditional site selection factors such as power availability, connectivity, and land\u2026Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Data centres positioned as catalyst for grid modernisation and energy investment<\/i><\/b><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Speaking at London Climate Action Week 2026, Schneider Electric Chief Sustainability Officer Esther Finidori argued that growing power demand from AI and hyperscale data centres should be viewed as an opportunity rather than a challenge, highlighting its potential to accelerate investment in renewable energy, grid upgrades, and digital energy infrastructure. Finidori noted that rising electricity demand can help unlock the capital required to modernise ageing power networks, improve grid flexibility, and support wider electrification efforts across the economy. The discussion also emphasised the importance of grid digitalisation, with advanced monitoring and data-driven management increasingly seen as critical tools for balancing peak loads and accommodating rapidly growing demand. Complementing this view, ARUP Chair Hilde Tonne highlighted the scale of investment required to support Europe’s energy transition, estimating that approximately \u20ac5Tn will be needed by 2050. Collectively, the discussion reinforces a growing industry narrative that data centres are not only consumers of electricity but can also serve as anchor demand that supports renewable energy deployment, strengthens energy security, and accelerates the development of more resilient power infrastructure\u2026Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Digital realty strengthens global growth strategy through capital, market, and capacity expansion<\/i><\/b><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Digital Realty has announced a series of strategic transactions that reinforce several of the key themes currently shaping the global data centre market: hyperscale expansion, geographic diversification, and access to long-term capital. Alongside increasing its stake in African colocation provider Teraco from 61% to 77% and securing a new hyperscale development site capable of supporting up to 2GW in Kansas City, the company is acquiring digital infrastructure investment firm Columbia Capital in a deal valued at approximately $485Mn. The acquisition adds a platform that has secured more than $9Bn in commitments from institutional investors, expanding Digital Realty’s access to capital and strengthening its private capital platform at a time when demand for AI infrastructure continues to accelerate. Collectively, the transactions demonstrate how major operators are increasingly combining capital formation, strategic market expansion, and long-term power-secured development pipelines to support future growth. The announcement also reinforces broader industry trends around hyperscale expansion, geographic diversification, and the growing role of investment platforms in financing the next generation of digital infrastructure\u2026Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

Power availability emerges as key determinant of Europe\u2019s AI infrastructure competitiveness<\/i><\/b><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Access to affordable and reliable power is increasingly becoming a defining factor in the competition to attract AI and data centre investment across Europe. According to analysis from White & Case, electricity process for energy-intensive industries in Europe remain approx. double those seen in the US and around 50% higher that in China and India, creating a growing challenge for the region\u2019s competitiveness. As governments and investors accelerate the developing of AI infrastructure, attention is shifting beyond compute and semiconductors towards the energy systems required to support large-scale deployments. The report suggests that power costs and energy security are likely to play an increasingly important role in determining where future data centre investment is directed, both globally and within Europe. Against this backdrop, several countries are expanding their focus on nuclear energy as a source of reliable, low-carbon baseload power, with France\u2019s existing nuclear fleet and plans for six additional reactors positioning it favourably within the emerging AI infrastructure landscape. The findings reinforce the broader industry trend: as AI workloads continue to scale, energy policy, power availability, and long-term infrastructure planning are becoming increasingly intertwined with digital infrastructure and investment decisions\u2026Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Global data centre demand continues to outpace supply despite record capacity growth <\/i><\/b><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

A new report from CBRE highlights the continued strength of global data centre demand, with inventory increasing across all major regions during Q1 2026, led by Latin America (41.3%) and North America (33%). Despite new capacity entering the market, demand from hyperscalers, AI companies, and neocloud providers continues to outpace supply, driving vacancy rates to record lows in several key markets. Northern Virgina and Atlanta reported exceptionally tight vacancy rates of just 0.3% and 1% respectively, while availability continues to be constrained by power procurement challenges, grid limitations, and increasing community opposition to new developments. The report also notes rising rental rates and construction costs across many markets, particularly in Europe and Asia-Pacific, as operators compete for scare capacity. At the same time, emerging locations such as Queretaro and Lisbon are attracting growing interest due to stronger power availability and development opportunities. The findings reinforce a defining trend across the global digital infrastructure sector: while demand for AI and cloud infrastructure continues to accelerate, access to power is increasingly shaping where new capacity can be delivered and how quickly markets can grow\u2026Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Infrastructure bottlenecks threaten to slow the next phase of AI growth<\/i><\/b><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

A new analysis suggests that almost 40% of US data centre projects scheduled for completion in 2026 risk significant delays, highlighting the growing challenge of delivering AI infrastructure at the scale and pace required by hyperscalers and AI developers. According to construction tracking data, major projects linked to organisations including OpenAI and Microsoft are facing pressures from permitting requirements, labour shortages, power constraints, and limited availability of critical equipment such as transformers and gas turbines. The findings come as operators race to develop increasingly large campuses, with many new facilities targeting power capacities measured in gigawatts rater than megawatts. While investment into AI infrastructure continues to accelerate, the report highlights a growing disconnect between capital deployment and infrastructure delivery, with more than 60% of projects scheduled for 2027 reportedly yet to begin construction. The analysis reinforces a broader industry trend: access to power, skilled labour, equipment supply chains, and permitting processes are emerging as some of the most significant constraints on AI infrastructure growth, potentially shaping the pace at which future compute capacity can be brought online\u2026Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Welcome to the GDCA Weekly News Blast! Check out the latest industry news from the GCC region below. Have any Middle East data centres news you\u2019d like to share? Email yours to imogen@gulfdca.com with NEWS in the subject line. Industry News Global cities launch data centre sustainability pact A coalition of major cities, including London,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1572,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-weekly-news-blast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4307"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4308,"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4307\/revisions\/4308"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}