Competitive positioning With the launch of the 9650 SSD PCIe Gen 6, Micron competes with Samsung and SK Hynix enterprise SSD offerings, which are the dominant players in the SSD market. In December last year, SK Hynix announced the development of PS1012 U.2 Gen5 PCIe SSD, for massive high-capacity storage for AI data centers.  The PM1743 is Samsung’s PCIe Gen5 offering in the market, with 14,000 MBps sequential read, designed for high-performance enterprise workloads. According to Faruqui, PCIe Gen6 data center SSDs are best suited for AI inference performance enhancement. However, we’re still months away from large-scale adoption as no current CPU platforms are available with PCIe 6.0 support. Only Nvidia’s Blackwell-based GPUs have native PCIe 6.0 x16 support with interoperability tests in progress. He added that PCIe Gen 6 SSDs will see very delayed adoption in the PC segment and imminent 2025 2H adoption in AI, data centers, high-performance computing (HPC), and enterprise storage solutions. Micron has also introduced two additional SSDs alongside the 9650. The 6600 ION SSD delivers 122TB in an E3.S form factor and is targeted at hyperscale and enterprise data centers looking to consolidate server infrastructure and build large AI data lakes. A 245TB variant is on the roadmap. The 7600 PCIe Gen5 SSD, meanwhile, is aimed at mixed workloads that require lower latency.

Artificial Intelligence is fundamentally changing the way data centers are architected, with a particular focus on the demands placed on internal fiber and communications infrastructure. While much attention is paid to the fiber connections between data centers or to end-users, the real transformation is happening inside the data center itself, where AI workloads are driving unprecedented requirements for bandwidth, low latency, and scalable networking. Network Segmentation and Specialization Inside the modern AI data center, the once-uniform network is giving way to a carefully divided architecture that reflects the growing divergence between conventional cloud services and the voracious needs of AI. Where a single, all-purpose network once sufficed, operators now deploy two distinct fabrics, each engineered for its own unique mission. The front-end network remains the familiar backbone for external user interactions and traditional cloud applications. Here, Ethernet still reigns, with server-to-leaf links running at 25 to 50 gigabits per second and spine connections scaling to 100 Gbps. Traffic is primarily north-south, moving data between users and the servers that power web services, storage, and enterprise applications. This is the network most people still imagine when they think of a data center: robust, versatile, and built for the demands of the internet age. But behind this familiar façade, a new, far more specialized network has emerged, dedicated entirely to the demands of GPU-driven AI workloads. In this backend, the rules are rewritten. Port speeds soar to 400 or even 800 gigabits per second per GPU, and latency is measured in sub-microseconds. The traffic pattern shifts decisively east-west, as servers and GPUs communicate in parallel, exchanging vast datasets at blistering speeds to train and run sophisticated AI models. The design of this network is anything but conventional: fat-tree or hypercube topologies ensure that no single link becomes a bottleneck, allowing thousands of

Toward the Future of AI Factories The ABB–Applied Digital partnership signals a shift in the fundamentals of data center development, where electrification strategy, hyperscale design and readiness, and long-term financial structuring are no longer separate tracks but part of a unified build philosophy. As Applied Digital pushes toward REIT status, the Ellendale campus becomes not just a development milestone but a cornerstone asset: a long-term, revenue-generating, AI-optimized property underpinned by industrial-grade power architecture. The 250 MW CoreWeave lease, with the option to expand to 400 MW, establishes a robust revenue base and validates the site’s design as AI-first, not cloud-retrofitted. At the same time, ABB is positioning itself as a leader in AI data center power architecture, setting a new benchmark for scalable, high-density infrastructure. Its HiPerGuard Medium Voltage UPS, backed by deep global manufacturing and engineering capabilities, reimagines power delivery for the AI era, bypassing the limitations of legacy low-voltage systems. More than a component provider, ABB is now architecting full-stack electrification strategies at the campus level, aiming to make this medium-voltage model the global standard for AI factories. What’s unfolding in North Dakota is a preview of what’s coming elsewhere: AI-ready campuses that marry investment-grade real estate with next-generation power infrastructure, built for a future measured in megawatts per rack, not just racks per row. As AI continues to reshape what data centers are and how they’re built, Ellendale may prove to be one of the key locations where the new standard was set.

Supersized Infrastructure for the AI Era As AWS deploys Project Rainier, it is scaling AI compute to unprecedented heights, while also laying down a decisive marker in the escalating arms race for hyperscale dominance. With custom Trainium2 silicon, proprietary interconnects, and vertically integrated data center architecture, Amazon joins a trio of tech giants, alongside Microsoft’s Project Stargate and Google’s TPUv5 clusters, who are rapidly redefining the future of AI infrastructure. But Rainier represents more than just another high-performance cluster. It arrives in a moment where the size, speed, and ambition of AI infrastructure projects have entered uncharted territory. Consider the past several weeks alone: On June 24, AWS detailed Project Rainier, calling it “a massive, one-of-its-kind machine” and noting that “the sheer size of the project is unlike anything AWS has ever attempted.” The New York Times reports that the primary Rainier campus in Indiana could include up to 30 data center buildings. Just two days later, Fermi America unveiled plans for the HyperGrid AI campus in Amarillo, Texas on a sprawling 5,769-acre site with potential for 11 gigawatts of power and 18 million square feet of AI data center capacity. And on July 1, Oracle projected $30 billion in annual revenue from a single OpenAI cloud deal, tied to the Project Stargate campus in Abilene, Texas. As Data Center Frontier founder Rich Miller has observed, the dial on data center development has officially been turned to 11. Once an aspirational concept, the gigawatt-scale campus is now materializing—15 months after Miller forecasted its arrival. “It’s hard to imagine data center projects getting any bigger,” he notes. “But there’s probably someone out there wondering if they can adjust the dial so it goes to 12.” Against this backdrop, Project Rainier represents not just financial investment but architectural intent. Like Microsoft’s Stargate buildout in

On June 17, 2025, Google and CTC Global announced a joint initiative to accelerate the deployment of high-capacity power transmission lines using CTC’s U.S.-manufactured ACCC® advanced conductors. The collaboration seeks to relieve grid congestion by rapidly upgrading existing infrastructure, enabling greater integration of clean energy, improving system resilience, and unlocking capacity for hyperscale data centers. The effort represents a rare convergence of corporate climate commitments, utility innovation, and infrastructure modernization aligned with the public interest. As part of the initiative, Google and CTC issued a Request for Information (RFI) with responses due by July 14. The RFI invites utilities, state energy authorities, and developers to nominate transmission line segments for potential fast-tracked upgrades. Selected projects will receive support in the form of technical assessments, financial assistance, and workforce development resources. While advanced conductor technologies like ACCC® can significantly improve the efficiency and capacity of existing transmission corridors, technological innovation alone cannot resolve the grid’s structural challenges. Building new or upgraded transmission lines in the U.S. often requires complex permitting from multiple federal, state, and local agencies, and frequently faces legal opposition, especially from communities invoking Not-In-My-Backyard (NIMBY) objections. Today, the average timeline to construct new interstate transmission infrastructure stretches between 10 and 12 years, an untenable lag in an era when grid reliability is under increasing stress. In 2024, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) reported that more than 2,600 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy and storage projects were stalled in the interconnection queue, waiting for sufficient transmission capacity. The consequences affect not only industrial sectors like data centers but also residential areas vulnerable to brownouts and peak load disruptions. What is the New Technology? At the center of the initiative is CTC Global’s ACCC® (Aluminum Conductor Composite Core) advanced conductor, a next-generation overhead transmission technology engineered to boost grid

In this episode of the Data Center Frontier Show podcast, we unpack one of the most strategic data center real estate moves of 2025: CoreSite’s acquisition of the historic Denver Gas and Electric Building. With this transaction, CoreSite, an American Tower company, cements its leadership in the Rocky Mountain region’s interconnection landscape, expands its DE1 facility, and streamlines access to Google Cloud and the Any2Denver peering exchange. Podcast guests Yvonne Ng, CoreSite’s General Manager and Vice President for the Central Region, and Adam Post, SVP of Finance and Corporate Development, offer in-depth insights into the motivations behind the deal, the implications for regional cloud and network ecosystems, and what it means for Denver’s future as a cloud interconnection hub. Carrier Hotel to Cloud Hub Located at 910 15th Street in downtown Denver, the Denver Gas and Electric Building is widely known as the most network-dense facility in the region. Long the primary interconnection hub for the Rocky Mountains, the building has now been fully acquired by CoreSite, bringing ownership and operations of the DE1 data center under a single umbrella. “This is a strategic move to consolidate control and expand our capabilities,” said Ng. “By owning the building, we can modernize infrastructure more efficiently, double the space and power footprint of DE1, and deliver an unparalleled interconnection ecosystem.” The acquisition includes the facility’s operating businesses and over 100 customers. CoreSite will add approximately 3 critical megawatts (CMW) of data center capacity, nearly doubling DE1’s footprint. Interconnection in the AI Era As AI, multicloud strategies, and real-time workloads reshape enterprise architecture, interconnection has never been more vital. CoreSite’s move elevates Denver’s role in this transformation. With the deal, CoreSite becomes the only data center provider in the region offering direct connections to major cloud platforms, including the dedicated Google Cloud Platform