03/30/2025 What I Read Last Week
#DigitalInfrastructure news: NVIDIA, CoreWeave IPO, Switch, Crusoe, AT&T bid for Lumen fiber?, virtual power plant
Weekly Edition of curated news about Digital Infrastructure
I don’t know how I missed this blog post last week - from the NVIDIA blitz of press. It was probably the coolest one of all. AI Factories, Built Smarter: New Omniverse Blueprint Advances AI Factory Design and Simulation.
NVIDIA has unveiled the Omniverse Blueprint for AI factory design and operations to help design and optimize AI factories, which are purpose-built infrastructures dedicated to AI training and inference.
Phaidra is working with NVIDIA to integrate reinforcement-learning AI agents into Omniverse. These agents optimize thermal stability and energy efficiency through real-time scenario simulation, creating digital twins that continuously adapt to changing hardware and environmental conditions.
Data Center news:
[Link] CoreWeave's IPO, which took place last week, raised $1.5 billion but fell short of expectations, pricing shares at $40—below the anticipated range of $47 to $55—and opening at $39. The market reaction was lukewarm, with shares closing flat, reflecting skepticism about the company's high debt, reliance on a concentrated customer base (notably Microsoft), and broader concerns about AI sector saturation amid a volatile economic backdrop.
[Link] Switch announced the completion of two securitized financing transactions, including a $2.4 billion CMBS loan and a $1.1 billion ABS issuance, totaling $3.5 billion. The proceeds will refinance the majority of the company’s outstanding acquisition financing.
[Link] Real estate company Related Companies announced the formal launch and capitalization of Related Digital, a vertically integrated data center development and investment platform. With a near-term $45 billion development pipeline, Related Digital will deliver digital infrastructure solutions for artificial intelligence and cloud hyperscale technology companies.
[Link] Crusoe is expanding its data center capabilities to meet the energy demands of AI. They have secured 4.5 GW of natural gas power through a joint venture with Engine No. 1, utilizing GE Vernova turbines to power AI data centers directly. Crusoe is expanding its data center campus in Abilene, Texas, with plans for 8 buildings totaling 4 million square feet and 1.2 GW of power capacity by mid-2026.
[Link] Logistic Land Investments LLC plans A 700-acre, 18-building data center campus for Bessemer, Alabama.
[Link] STACK Infrastructure announced a new 36MW data center in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. The two-story, 263,000 sq. ft. data center will offer 36MW of critical capacity and is powered by a local ComEd substation.
[Link] InfraPartners and Nscale announced a partnership to expand the existing 30MW facility with the development of a pioneering 60MW AI data centre in Glomfjord, Norway. The facility, set to go live in Q2 2025, will host the latest generation of GPUs optimized for AI applications.
[Link] Nexthop AI has launched with $110 million in funding, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, to develop more efficient AI infrastructure for hyperscalers. The company specializes in building custom networking solutions that integrate into their optimized cloud-stack, including networking hardware, a network operating system, and pre-tested optical and electrical interconnects.
Telecom news:
[Link] According to one report, AT&T is preparing a $5.5 billion bid for Lumen Technologies' consumer fiber operations. A new report from Bloomberg contends that AT&T and Verizon are building "kingdoms" of fiber – areas of the country where they can converge high-speed wireline and wireless connections.
[Link] Lumen and Ciena have successfully established a 1.2 terabit wavelength service trial across 3,050 kilometers (more than 1,800 miles) on Lumen's Ultra-Low-Loss (ULL) fiber network, making it the world's longest 1.2 terabit non-regenerated signal.
[Link] Increasing Network Resilience. A collaboration between Cinfo, Kipu Quantum, and QuEra Computing looks to explore the advantages of neutral-atom quantum computers to pre-calculate crisis scenarios. The goal was to generate a library of optimal network reconfiguration “recipes,” enabling companies like Spanish telecom MassOrange to minimize outages and restore service more quickly during emergencies.
Energy news:
[Link] Itron, Tesla, and Xcel Energy are collaborating to develop a virtual power plant (VPP) network in Colorado. Itron will use its Grid Edge Intelligence solutions to manage distributed energy resources within Xcel Energy's grid, while Tesla will provide its battery storage and management system. The VPP will aggregate DERs like residential battery storage, solar panels, and EV chargers to balance power at the edge of the grid.
[Link] Itron and Schneider Electric are expanding their collaboration with Microsoft to deliver a comprehensive Grid Edge Intelligence solution that addresses utility grid visibility and control challenges. The collaboration takes advantage of Itron’s distributed intelligence technology, accelerating the path to bring grid edge intelligence to the utility control center.
[Link] Buzz Solutions uses AI to help utility companies monitor and maintain their infrastructure. Their vision AI technology analyzes inspection data collected by drones and helicopters to identify potential problems such as broken components, vegetation encroachment, and unwelcome wildlife. They also developed PowerGUARD, an application that uses AI to analyze video streams from substation cameras in real time to detect security, safety, and equipment issues
[Link] TechCrunch - Data centers love solar: A comprehensive guide to deals over 100 megawatts.
[Link] PsiQuantum has announced Omega, a manufacturable chipset for photonic quantum computing, designed for utility-scale, million-qubit quantum computers. The chipset, manufactured at GlobalFoundries, integrates advanced components and demonstrates high-fidelity qubit operations with a simple chip-to-chip qubit interconnect. PsiQuantum has also developed a new cooling solution, replacing the traditional dilution refrigerator with a more efficient design.
[Link] NVIDIA is reportedly nearing a deal to acquire Lepton AI, a company that rents out servers that are powered by Nvidia’s AI chips, according to The Information.
[Link] The Armv9 edge AI platform, featuring the new Cortex-A320 CPU and Ethos-U85 NPU, is optimized for IoT and enables on-device AI models with over one billion parameters. It enhances efficiency, performance, and security in IoT markets, driving advancements in industrial automation and smart cameras.
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