Executive Roundtable: AI Infrastructure Enters Its Execution Era
At Data Center Frontier, we rely on industry leaders to help illuminate the most urgent challenges shaping the future of digital infrastructure. That perspective is particularly valuable right now. As 2026 unfolds, the data center industry has entered an unmistakable AI-driven build cycle, where the primary constraint is no longer ambition or capital, but execution.
Gigawatt-scale campuses, compressed delivery timelines, tightening power availability, and rising community scrutiny are forcing operators, developers, and technology suppliers alike to rethink long-held assumptions about how digital infrastructure is planned, powered, and delivered.
In this quarter’s Executive Roundtable, Data Center Frontier asks four industry leaders to cut through the noise and address where the real pressure points are emerging across the data center ecosystem, and what must change next to keep AI-era infrastructure growth on track.
To explore these questions, DCF convened subject matter experts representing construction, sustainability leadership, electrical infrastructure, and power distribution technology.
Our distinguished panelists for the First Quarter of 2026 include:
- Christopher Gorthy, Advanced Technology Core Market Co-Leader - Mission Critical, DPR Construction
- Miranda Gardiner, Executive Director, iMasons Climate Accord
- Miles Whitling, Marketing Director, Maddox Industrial Transformer
- Mike Connaughton, Senior Product Manager, Leviton Network Solutions
From Announcements to Delivery
To begin the roundtable, we asked our panelists to focus on a defining shift now underway in the data center industry: the move from announcement to execution.
Over the past several years, hyperscalers, neocloud providers, and enterprise AI adopters have unveiled an unprecedented wave of new capacity plans. But as projects move from concept to construction, the industry is confronting the practical realities of building AI-scale infrastructure.
Power availability, supply chain bottlenecks, labor constraints, and permitting complexity are all emerging as critical variables. In many markets, the challenge is no longer securing capital or demand. It is delivering projects on schedule at a scale the industry has rarely attempted.
Against that backdrop, we asked our panelists to consider a central question for the next phase of the AI infrastructure cycle: What capabilities will separate the projects that deliver from those that struggle over the next 24 months?
In addition to today’s discussion, Data Center Frontier will continue the conversation throughout the coming week, as our roundtable panel explores several other issues emerging at the center of the industry’s AI-era build cycle.
Among the topics our executive panelists will examine:
- The Coordination Imperative - As AI campuses scale into the hundreds of megawatts and increasingly toward gigawatt territory, successful delivery depends on tight coordination across utilities, equipment suppliers, construction partners, and operators. Where does the industry remain too fragmented today, and what new models of collaboration are beginning to prove effective?
- Designing for an Uncertain Demand Curve - AI demand continues to evolve at extraordinary speed, forcing developers to balance rapid deployment with long-term flexibility. How should operators and suppliers think about future-proofing infrastructure, particularly power and electrical capacity, without overbuilding or locking into assumptions that may quickly change?
- The Next Credibility Test - Public scrutiny of large-scale data center development is rising, particularly around power consumption, land use, and community impact. As AI infrastructure expands, what will determine whether the industry maintains its social license to operate in the communities where these facilities are built?
Together, these conversations reflect the broader reality confronting the industry. The AI infrastructure boom is no longer defined by ambition alone, but by the ability to execute complex projects at unprecedented scale - while maintaining the trust of markets, regulators, and local communities.
And now onto our first Executive Roundtable question for Q1 of 2026.
Data Center Frontier: The industry has entered what many describe as the execution phase of the AI infrastructure cycle. What capabilities — organizational, technical, or operational — will most clearly separate the projects that deliver on time from those that struggle over the next 24 months?
Christopher Gorthy, DPR Construction: From what we’re seeing across the industry, the ability to attract and retain skilled talent is becoming a differentiator in this execution phase. As organizations rethink how they build and sustain project teams, our self-perform workforce and in house prefabrication capabilities position us and our customers to deliver at the pace projects demand. We’re fortunate to have over 5,000 skilled craft employees across the company who bring hands‑on expertise to our projects.
But we also have to retain them. We’re focused on creating a great environment for them to work and grow. For example, in 2023, we introduced a new suite of benefits for our craft employees that offer additional benefits in our union markets and deliver a comprehensive package in non‑union areas that we believe sets a new standard in the industry. Programs like our foreman develop program also increase career opportunities for people in the skilled trades.
When it comes to recruiting, we are also supplementing the strong union-run apprenticeship programs with our own in select markets, particularly in the Southeast and parts of Texas. We believe people need as many entry points to the trades, as possible.
Miranda Gardiner, iMasons Climate Accord: Since 2023, the digital infrastructure industry has moved definitively from planning to execution in the AI infrastructure cycle. Industry analysts forecast continued exponential growth, with active capacity at least doubling between now and 2030 and total capacity potentially tripling, quintupling, or more. In practical terms, we’ll see more digital infrastructure capacity come online in the next five year than has been built in the past 30 years, representing a historic industrial transformation requiring trillions of dollars in capital expenditure and a workforce measured in the millions.
Design and organizational flexibility, integrated execution of sustainable solutions, and community-centered workforce development will separate those that thrive from those that struggle. Effective organizations will pivot quickly under these constantly shifting conditions and the leaders will be those that build fast but build right, as strategic flexibility balances long-term performance, efficiency, and regulatory compliance.
We already know the resource intensity required to bring AI resources online and are working diligently to ensure this short-term, delivering streamlined and optimized solutions for everything from site selection to cooling and power management while lower lifecycle emissions. Additionally, in some regions, grid interconnection timelines and power availability are already the pacing item for data center development. Organizations that align their sustainability targets and energy procurement strategies will have a clearer path to execution.
An operational model capable of delivering multiple large-scale facilities simultaneously across regions is another key piece to successful outcomes. Standardized, repeatable frameworks that reduce engineering time and accelerate permitting. We hear often about collaboration and strong partnerships, and these will be critical with utilities, regulators, and equipment manufacturers to anticipate bottlenecks before they impact schedules. Execution discipline will increasingly determine competitive advantage as the industry scales.
The world and, especially, our host communities, are watching closely. Projects that move forward smoothly will be those that deliver tangible local benefits, including workforce training, local hiring, and transparent engagement around energy use and environmental impact. Our differentiators will not simply be access to capital or demand from AI workloads but our ability to deliver while remaining flexible, sustainable, and community centered.
Miles Whitling, Maddox: The projects that deliver on schedule are those that treat procurement as a core project discipline. Long-lead time electrical equipment (like transformers and switchgear) is schedule-critical. Successful developers secure these components early, often pre-purchasing equipment even before final design lock.
Many of the projects that move from proposal to construction have also abandoned project-by-project procurement. Instead, they’re standardizing specifications and placing large orders that they’ll allocate across multiple projects.
The choice of suppliers is another key differentiator. Working with vendors that are aligned with your project’s timeline and who have both the capacity to deliver and the flexibility to adapt make a significant difference.
In many cases, medium-sized partners are able to combine scale with responsiveness in a way that supports fast-moving builds better than traditional OEMs who have the scale but lack speed and flexibility to adapt to some data center projects.
Mike Connaughton, Leviton Network Solutions: Because AI networks demand unique architectures, layouts, and performance requirements, no two data centers look alike—and many builds require custom solutions. Delivering that level of customization at scale, across diverse markets, will be a defining challenge.
To stay on schedule, data center operators should rely on network infrastructure partners with vertically integrated, globally distributed manufacturing. Suppliers with capacity across continents and strategic regions—and with a strong understanding of local nuances—offer built in supply chain resilience, shorter lead times, and reliable local availability.
At the same time, operators need confidence that every site will receive the same materials, testing standards, protocols, and service quality. The providers that can deliver both regional specialization and global consistency will be the ones that keep projects on track.
NEXT: The Coordination Imperative
About the Author
Matt Vincent
Matt Vincent is Editor in Chief of Data Center Frontier, where he leads editorial strategy and coverage focused on the infrastructure powering cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and the digital economy. A veteran B2B technology journalist with more than two decades of experience, Vincent specializes in the intersection of data centers, power, cooling, and emerging AI-era infrastructure. Since assuming the EIC role in 2023, he has helped guide Data Center Frontier’s coverage of the industry’s transition into the gigawatt-scale AI era, with a focus on hyperscale development, behind-the-meter power strategies, liquid cooling architectures, and the evolving energy demands of high-density compute, while working closely with the Digital Infrastructure Group at Endeavor Business Media to expand the brand’s analytical and multimedia footprint. Vincent also hosts The Data Center Frontier Show podcast, where he interviews industry leaders across hyperscale, colocation, utilities, and the data center supply chain to examine the technologies and business models reshaping digital infrastructure. Since its inception he serves as Head of Content for the Data Center Frontier Trends Summit. Before becoming Editor in Chief, he served in multiple senior editorial roles across Endeavor Business Media’s digital infrastructure portfolio, with coverage spanning data centers and hyperscale infrastructure, structured cabling and networking, telecom and datacom, IP physical security, and wireless and Pro AV markets. He began his career in 2005 within PennWell’s Advanced Technology Division and later held senior editorial positions supporting brands such as Cabling Installation & Maintenance, Lightwave Online, Broadband Technology Report, and Smart Buildings Technology. Vincent is a frequent moderator, interviewer, and keynote speaker at industry events including the HPC Forum, where he delivers forward-looking analysis on how AI and high-performance computing are reshaping digital infrastructure. He graduated with honors from Indiana University Bloomington with a B.A. in English Literature and Creative Writing and lives in southern New Hampshire with his family, remaining an active musician in his spare time.
Voices of the Industry
