Digital infrastructure projects in 2025 are undergoing radical transformation, driven by the exponential growth of artificial intelligence and cloud computing demands. These developments aren’t merely iterative improvements—they represent fundamental shifts in how we approach data center design, power consumption, and sustainability.
According to recent Department of Energy findings, data centers now consume approximately 4.4% of U.S. electricity and could reach 12% by 2028, creating both challenges and opportunities for innovation in digital infrastructure. As we examine the most significant developments in the field, a clear pattern emerges: power acquisition and management have become the primary factors shaping next-generation projects.
1. Microsoft’s Wyoming Hydrogen-Powered AI Campus
Microsoft’s innovative approach in Wyoming stands out for its forward-thinking energy strategy. Rather than relying solely on traditional power sources, the company has successfully demonstrated hydrogen fuel cell technology at its Cheyenne data center, showing a commitment to diversified energy solutions for AI operations.
The project incorporates a 1.5 MW hydrogen fuel cell system partnered with a microgrid controller and battery energy storage, achieving an impressive 99.999% uptime during testing. This initiative exemplifies Microsoft’s “everything everywhere all at once” approach to sustainable power for AI workloads—combining wind power, hydrogen technology, and advanced storage systems.
By integrating multiple clean energy sources, Microsoft has created a more resilient power ecosystem that can maintain operations even during challenging conditions, including tests conducted at 6,086 feet above sea level in below-freezing temperatures. This model represents a fundamental rethinking of data center infrastructure that could become the template for future AI-optimized facilities.
2. Texas Hyperscale Energy Campus
The Lone Star State is home to one of 2025’s most ambitious digital infrastructure projects—PowerHouse and Provident’s 768-acre hyperscale campus in northern Ellis County, between Dallas and Fort Worth. This development features a planned 1.8GW switchyard with the first 500MW tranche already approved through ERCOT.
What distinguishes this project is its comprehensive approach to energy management. The campus is scheduled to include 24 buildings across three phases, with energization of the first building slated for May 2026. This timeline reflects the industry’s push for accelerated deployment of power-intensive facilities while ensuring reliable infrastructure is in place to support next-generation computing workloads.
The strategic location in the heart of the Texas Metroplex provides unique advantages in terms of access to energy resources and transmission capacity. By developing a purpose-built power infrastructure alongside the data center facilities, this project exemplifies the power-first development model that is becoming essential for supporting AI and cloud computing growth.
3. Direct Liquid Cooling Implementation in Virginia
Northern Virginia—home to approximately 13% of global data center capacity—is seeing significant infrastructure modernization through the adoption of direct liquid cooling (DLC) technologies. This trend is accelerating as the global data center liquid cooling market is projected to grow from $5.65 billion in 2024 to $48.42 billion by 2034, a CAGR of nearly 24%.
A particularly innovative project is underway in Wise County, Virginia, where developers are utilizing water from abandoned mines to cool data centers as part of a 1GW Energy Delta Lab initiative. This approach not only delivers remarkable efficiency gains but also repurposes abandoned industrial infrastructure for the digital economy.
The higher heat capacity of liquid cooling enables much greater compute density, allowing facilities to maximize the value of existing real estate—particularly valuable in land-constrained markets like Northern Virginia. As rack densities continue to increase to support AI workloads, these cooling innovations will be critical to sustaining the region’s leadership in digital infrastructure.
4. Oregon’s Immersion-Cooled Edge Computing Network
Another notable implementation of liquid cooling technology is taking place in Oregon, where a distributed network of edge computing nodes utilizes single-phase immersion cooling. According to recent industry research, immersion cooling can reduce data center cooling energy by up to 95% compared to traditional air cooling systems.
Intel’s lab in Hillsboro, Oregon features 24 Xeon-based servers submerged in synthetic non-conductive oil, demonstrating the commercial viability of this approach. The system’s design eliminates mechanical cooling entirely, instead relying on the natural climate for secondary heat rejection, which reduces both capital and operational expenses while improving reliability through simplified mechanical systems.
What makes this infrastructure modernization effort particularly innovative is its modular deployment model. Standardized immersion tanks can be manufactured off-site and rapidly deployed, enabling computing resources to follow demand patterns more flexibly than traditional fixed infrastructure allows.
5. Chicago’s AI-Ready Hybrid Exchange
Chicago has emerged as one of the nation’s top data center markets, with data center supply in the region growing 125% in 2024 to support AI computing demands. This expansion is necessary as utility provider Exelon has reported that data center power requirements in the Chicago area are expected to increase ninefold, with approximately 25 new projects planned that would consume around 5 GW of power.
A standout project is Digital Realty’s expansion at 350 E. Cermak Road, where the company is adding a 13-story building adjacent to its existing 109-megawatt facility. This hybrid facility functions as both a traditional colocation center and a direct on-ramp to major cloud providers, hosting approximately 600 tenants including companies like Microsoft and Comcast.
What distinguishes this digital infrastructure project is its flexible consumption model. The facility serves as an interconnection hub where large providers exchange traffic, allowing businesses to dynamically scale between owned equipment and cloud resources based on workload characteristics. This hybrid approach combines the control of private infrastructure with the elasticity of public cloud, creating a compelling alternative to either model alone.
6. Silicon Valley’s Geothermal-Powered Data Center Hub
Silicon Valley is undertaking a major transformation of its digital infrastructure with a strategic pivot toward geothermal energy to address unprecedented power demands. According to Silicon Valley Power’s latest Integrated Resource Plan, data center load in the region is expected to nearly double by 2035, with the utility planning to add 290MW of geothermal power capacity to support this growth. As SVP noted, “The baseload operating characteristics of geothermal also align with the relatively high 80 percent load factor of the SVP system” due to data centers’ constant power requirements, making it an ideal match for these energy-intensive facilities.
This initiative comes at a critical moment as PG&E reports that new data centers planned for Silicon Valley could add as much as 3.5GW of power demand to the grid—equivalent to the output of three nuclear power plants. With more than two dozen projects in development over the next five years and limited grid capacity, geothermal energy offers a rare combination of reliability and sustainability that intermittent renewables alone cannot provide.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is simultaneously advancing this effort through its Cold Underground Thermal Energy Storage (Cold UTES) project, which aims to leverage geothermal technology to dramatically reduce both cooling costs and peak demand for data centers.
What makes Silicon Valley’s approach particularly innovative is the dual application of geothermal resources for both electricity generation and direct cooling. Given that cooling can account for up to 40% of a data center’s energy consumption, these complementary applications could create a step-change improvement in efficiency.
As the region works to balance explosive growth in AI computing with sustainability goals, these geothermal initiatives demonstrate how areas facing extreme power constraints can develop more resilient digital infrastructure while avoiding the grid bottlenecks that have hampered development in other markets.
7. Grid-Interactive Intelligent Data Centers
A particularly promising direction for digital infrastructure projects is the development of grid-interactive intelligent data centers. These facilities are designed to actively participate in grid stabilization through dynamic load management and energy storage, going beyond mere power consumption.
Unlike traditional data centers that maintain constant power consumption profiles, these next-generation facilities can adjust their workloads in response to grid conditions. During periods of renewable energy abundance, they can increase their computational throughput for non-time-sensitive workloads. Conversely, during periods of grid stress, they can reduce consumption or even supply power back to the grid from on-site storage systems.
The enabling technologies for these capabilities include advanced workload orchestration systems, high-efficiency power conversion equipment, and sophisticated energy management platforms. Together, these components allow data centers to transform from passive consumers to active grid participants, helping to balance the increasingly dynamic interplay between renewable generation and traditional power sources.
8. Circular Economy Approaches to Digital Infrastructure
Another emerging trend in digital infrastructure projects is the application of circular economy principles to data center design and operation. Rather than treating hardware as disposable assets with fixed lifecycles, forward-thinking operators are implementing comprehensive strategies for component reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling.
This approach extends beyond equipment to encompass the entire facility. One pioneering project in the Nordic region is repurposing an industrial facility as a data center, utilizing existing power infrastructure while implementing state-of-the-art efficiency measures. The facility’s waste heat is captured and distributed to nearby residential areas, creating a circular energy flow that benefits the surrounding community.
Water conservation is another critical aspect of circular design, particularly in regions facing scarcity challenges. Advanced water reclamation systems are being integrated into cooling infrastructure, dramatically reducing consumption while maintaining optimal operational temperatures. Some facilities are achieving near-zero water usage through innovative heat exchange technologies, representing a step-change improvement in environmental performance.
9. Wyoming Hyperscale White Box Project
The Wyoming Hyperscale White Box data center in Evanston represents one of the most innovative approaches to sustainable digital infrastructure. This project combines an array of forward-thinking strategies, including immersion cooling, renewable energy, geothermal heat exchange, prefabricated construction, and carbon tracking.
What makes this project particularly noteworthy is its expected Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of just 1.08 and Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE) of 0.0—industry-leading metrics that demonstrate exceptional sustainability. The facility also plans to repurpose waste heat from computing operations to support an indoor farm, creating a symbiotic relationship between digital and agricultural infrastructure.
The project is being built using metal clear span construction rather than concrete, reducing both construction time and environmental impact. This modular approach enables faster deployment while ensuring that materials can be recycled at the end of the facility’s lifecycle, embodying circular economy principles.
10. Meta’s AI-Optimized Cheyenne Data Center
Meta (formerly Facebook) is investing $800 million in a new data center in Cheyenne, Wyoming, highlighting the region’s growing importance as a digital infrastructure hub. The 715,000-square-foot facility will be built on a 960-acre parcel in the High Plains Business Park and is expected to be operational by 2027.
What sets this digital infrastructure project apart is its explicit optimization for AI workloads. The facility will support Meta’s advanced technologies including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads, with a particular focus on AI processing capabilities. This represents a significant shift from general-purpose data centers to specialized facilities designed specifically for artificial intelligence applications.
Meta has partnered with Black Hills Energy to add new resources to the grid, including renewables, demonstrating a commitment to sustainability alongside AI development. The project will also achieve LEED Gold certification once operational, balancing computational power with environmental responsibility.
