09/21/2025 What I Read Last Week
#DigitalInfrastructure news: U.S. Tech invests in UK, Oracle/Meta $20B deal, Vantage launches in Spain, optically-interconnected orbital datacenter infrastructure, quantum computing
Weekly Edition of curated news about Digital Infrastructure
President Trump visited the UK last week, and big tech / big money followed….
[Link] OpenAI unveiled Stargate UK, a partnership with NVIDIA and Nscale to enhance the UK’s sovereign AI computing capabilities. The initiative aims to enable OpenAI’s advanced AI models to operate on local UK infrastructure, supporting critical sectors like public services, finance, research, and national security. Stargate UK will leverage Nscale’s expanded capacity across multiple sites, including Cobalt Park in the North East’s new AI Growth Zone. OpenAI plans to utilize up to 8,000 NVIDIA GPUs in Q1 2026, with potential scaling to 31,000, powered by NVIDIA’s latest Grace Blackwell chips, which incorporate British-designed Arm semiconductors.
[Link] BlackRock plans to invest £500m (~$673,265,000) in UK data centers through a joint venture with Digital Gravity Partners, a digital infrastructure investment manager.
[Link] NVIDIA announced an investment of £2 billion (~$2.69B) in the U.K. market to catalyze the nation’s AI startup ecosystem and scale the next generation of globally transformative AI businesses
[Link] Microsoft said that it plans to invest $30 billion in the U.K. by 2028, as the company builds out its artificial intelligence infrastructure. UK-headquartered Nscale and Microsoft announced they have entered a commitment on Nscale’s AI Campus in Loughton, which will be the UK’s largest AI supercomputer when it goes live. The site will deliver 50MW of AI capacity, scalable to 90MW, and will initially house 23,040 NVIDIA GB300 GPUs delivered in Q1 of 2027.
[Link] CoreWeave announced the next £1.5 billion (~$3.36B) phase of its investment in AI data center capacity and operations in the United Kingdom, bringing the total investment in the country to £2.5 billion. As part of this investment, CoreWeave is partnering with NVIDIA and DataVita in Scotland.
[Link] Galaxy Data Centers has partnered with UK energy tech innovator Zendo to integrate clean energy into its Redhill Data Centre in Greater London and set new benchmarks for operational efficiency. Zendo has procured a £20m supply contract to deliver 40GWh of renewable energy annually, equivalent to the power demand of 15,000 UK homes.
[Link] Microsoft announced a $4 billion investment to build a second data center in Wisconsin, following a $3.3 billion initial facility set to open in early 2026 in Mount Pleasant. The first data center will feature hundreds of thousands of Nvidia chips for AI model processing, addressing the growing demand for cloud infrastructure.
[Link] Oracle and Meta in Talks for $20 Billion AI Cloud Deal. Under the proposed agreement, Oracle would provide Meta with computing power for training and deploying artificial intelligence models.
[Link] Equinix announced the opening of its first International Business Exchange (IBX) data center in Chennai, India—CN1. Located in Siruseri, Tamil Nadu, on a nearly six-acre plot of land, this new facility will be interconnected with Equinix's Mumbai campus, which consists of three IBX data centers.
[Link] Vantage Data Centers announced a €3.2 billion ($3.78 billion) investment to build a hyperscale data center campus in Villanueva de Gállego, in the Zaragoza area of Spain's Aragon region, marking the company's entry into the Spanish market.
[Link] Soluna Holdings has secured a scalable credit facility of up to $100 million from Generate Capital to advance its green computing infrastructure for AI and Bitcoin mining. The deal includes an initial $12.6 million draw to refinance and construct active projects, with $22.9 million allocated for ongoing developments like Project Dorothy 2 and Project Kati 1, and an additional $64.5 million accordion facility to support Soluna’s expanding 1-gigawatt pipeline and AI equipment procurement.
[Link] Visual Capitalist: The massive network powering U.S. data centers. Awesome visual produced by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Deployment Office.
In this ARK Funds video, Frank Downing talks about CoreWeave and Jensen Huang’s metric of tokens/performance per watt. It reminded me of something that I want to dig into a little more and track. Here is what Frank said: “The more tokens per watt and the more total watts you have, the more revenue the business can generate. And so if you look at that what that means for core they have 470 megawatts of power deployed right now and they have contracted power of 2.2 gigawatts and are continuously looking to expand that. So if you just look at 470 megawatts to 2.2 you can see that you know on the same price per token per watt basis they could 4x the revenue base based on what they already have contracted.”
[Link] Groq, a pioneer in AI inference technology, raised $750 million in funding at a $6.9 billion valuation to strengthen its role in providing fast, affordable AI compute infrastructure to over two million developers and Fortune 500 companies globally.
[Link] Axiom Space and Spacebilt announced a multi-organization collaboration to bring optically-interconnected orbital datacenter (ODC) infrastructure to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2027. The Axiom Orbital Data Center Node on the International Space Station, (AxODC Node ISS), developed under a collaboration agreement with Spacebilt, and supported with an Optical Communication Terminal (OCT) by Skyloom, and hardware by Phison Electronics and Microchip Technology, will establish an optically interconnected, high-performance ODC node aboard the station enabling satellites, other spacecraft in low-Earth orbit (LEO), and astronauts and researchers to store and process data, and run Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) workloads and other cloud computing applications.
Quantum Computing
[Link] IonQ has signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Department of Energy to advance quantum technologies in space, focusing on demonstrating quantum-secure communications and exploring applications like quantum sensing and navigation. The collaboration leverages IonQ’s acquisitions of Qubitekk and Capella Space to strengthen U.S. leadership in quantum and aerospace innovation. The company also announced an agreement to acquire Vector Atomic, a pioneer in advanced quantum sensors for positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) applications.
[Link] Bluefors, a leading manufacturer of cryogenic systems for quantum computing, has partnered with Interlune to source helium-3 from the Moon, starting in 2028 through 2037, to meet the growing demand for quantum technology. Interlune will harvest helium-3, a rare and critical material for quantum computers, from lunar soil using energy-efficient technology.
[Link] Researchers at UT Austin and Quantinuum have demonstrated the first unconditional quantum supremacy using Quantinuum's H1-1 trapped-ion quantum computer with just 12 qubits. The researchers have mathematically proven that their quantum task simply cannot be matched by any classical computer, regardless of future algorithmic improvements. It's a permanent, provable separation between quantum and classical information processing.
[Link] Quantum networking company Aliro has achieved a milestone by supporting over 50 quantum network devices with its vendor-agnostic software, enabling scalable quantum internet and ultra-secure communications. The AliroNet suite facilitates applications like Quantum Secure Communications and quantum computer networking, integrating advanced devices and classical infrastructure to accelerate global adoption of quantum networks. "Aliro's support for our multi-channel superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) marks a significant step forward in operationalizing quantum networks.”
[Link] Infleqtion revealed early details on the next-generation architecture underpinning its Sqale quantum computer. Built on neutral atom technology, Infleqtion’s new architecture has enabled it to accelerate its quantum computing roadmap. The company expects to deliver a full-stack fault-tolerant system with more than 1,000 logical qubits by 2030.
[Link] Researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute and collaborating institutions have developed a "Frequency Binary Search" algorithm that can manage noise in quantum devices in real time, addressing the critical challenge of decoherence that threatens quantum computing performance. The algorithm, implemented on specialized hardware with Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), can efficiently calibrate multiple qubits simultaneously and could scale to handle millions of qubits in future quantum systems.
[Link] University of Chicago researchers have developed a method to use sound waves (phonons) instead of light particles (photons) for quantum computing, achieving deterministic control over these tiny mechanical vibrations by scattering them off superconducting qubits. This breakthrough could lead to quantum computers that are as powerful as current systems but more predictable and less prone to the randomness that limits photon-based quantum computers.
Energy
[Link] The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission took decisive action on September 18, approving four new reliability standards designed to strengthen America's electrical grid against modern threats while launching a probe into how utilities predict power needs from surging AI and data center development. Separately, FERC Chairman David Rosner sent letters to six major grid operators—including PJM, MISO, and CAISO—demanding answers about their load forecasting practices for massive new industrial customers. The inquiry reflects growing concerns that existing forecasting methods can't keep pace with unprecedented electricity demand from artificial intelligence and data centers, potentially leading to billions in misallocated infrastructure investments. 💾 save for later research / deep dive
[Link] The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the Speed to Power initiative to accelerate the speed of large-scale grid infrastructure project development for both transmission and generation. The Speed to Power initiative will help ensure the United States has the power needed to win the global artificial intelligence (AI) race while continuing to meet growing demand for affordable, reliable, and secure energy.
[Link] Macquarie Asset Management has finalized the close of its Green Energy Transition Solutions Fund (MGETS) with over $US3 billion in total commitments, surpassing its $US2 billion target. The fund, focusing on decarbonizing energy sectors, has invested in 12 companies across diverse subsectors like energy storage and clean transportation, with over 65% of the fund already committed.
[Link] Meta is the power offtaker (agrees to purchase the output or production of a project) for Project Goody, a 171.72 MWac solar and 237 MWh storage project in Lamar County, Texas, developed by Nexus Renewable Power LLC. This partnership helps Meta match its global data center electricity use with 100% clean and renewable energy, supporting its sustainability goals. The project, backed by $220 million in funding, including from Goldman Sachs, is under construction and set to operate by Q4 2025
[Link] Deep Fission, Inc. has announced plans to develop small modular nuclear reactors one mile underground in Texas, Utah, and Kansas, leveraging partnerships and innovative technology to provide safe, cost-effective, carbon-free energy with an estimated 70–80% cost advantage over conventional nuclear technologies.
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