From Meta's sweeping 8,000-person layoff and a utility megamerger that could reshape data center power procurement, to moratoriums spreading across US cities and a $2 billion federal quantum computing push – it's been another packed stretch for the sector. Here's a roundup of the latest data center developments.
Tech Layoffs Continue
Meta has begun laying off approximately 8,000 employees – 10% of its global workforce – including capacity engineers, facilities directors, and site managers with years of tenure. The company is also canceling plans to hire 6,000 people while redirecting 7,000 roles toward AI workflows. Verizon is also trimming hundreds of additional positions, months after slashing 13,000 jobs. The telco giant says it’s part of an ongoing restructuring as it reshapes its workforce around digital services.
Deals, Capex, and Hardware
AI infrastructure spending continues to climb. Moody's has moved its hyperscaler capex forecast up by $85 billion, now projecting $785 billion in spending this year and nearly $1 trillion by 2027. One example of that spend: Anthropic has reportedly signed a $1.8 billion, seven-year cloud contract with Akamai, according to Bloomberg. Akamai's CEO described it as "the largest customer deal in Akamai history," though he did not officially name the client. Speaking of the cloud, Blackstone and Google have formed a joint venture to build a new US-based cloud platform offering Google TPUs as a compute-as-a-service product. Blackstone is committing $5 billion in equity, with the partnership targeting 500MW of capacity by 2027 and expanding TPU access beyond Google Cloud for the first time.
At Dell Technologies World in Las Vegas, Dell unveiled its PowerStore Elite storage platform and 18th-generation PowerEdge servers and announced a partnership with Samsung to provide compute and storage infrastructure for AI chip manufacturing.
Massive Energy Merger and Hyperscale PPAs
NextEra Energy will acquire Dominion Energy in an all-stock deal that would create the world's largest regulated electric utility, serving 10 million customers across Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The combined company would hold more than a 130GW pipeline of large-load demand – the bulk tied to data centers – positioning it as a major power supplier for the sector. This comes as the grid continues to feel the strain. PJM was granted emergency DOE approval to curtail data centers and other large loads during a hot-weather period in mid-May, after projecting reserves could fall below 5.8GW.
On the renewable PPA front, Meta signed PPAs with Desri for 850MW of clean energy across Oklahoma, Texas, and Mississippi, bringing its total contracted capacity with the provider past 2.5GW. Google inked a 15-year, 500MW solar PPA with Linea Energy in Texas, and Amazon signed its first geothermal deal, partnering with NV Energy to bring 100MW of geothermal capacity online in Nevada by 2030. Elsewhere, Nebius has signed with Bloom Energy to deploy 328MW of solid oxide fuel cells at a US site this year.
Policy and US Development: Moratoriums Multiply, Midwest Heats Up
The moratorium wave is spreading. Denver's City Council has approved a one-year pause on new data center permits, and Inver Grove Heights near Minneapolis has passed a similar pause. Both cities are introducing public engagement processes to study community and infrastructure impacts. At the state level, Florida has enacted a broad data center law effective July 1, barring utilities from passing infrastructure costs to residential ratepayers, restricting water use permits, and preserving local zoning authority to deny projects outright. It’s one of the more comprehensive state-level frameworks. Oklahoma has enacted similar ratepayer-protection legislation, requiring large-load customers of 75MW or more to bear their own infrastructure costs.
Despite the pushback, development is going strong – particularly in the Midwest. Google has pledged $15 billion in Missouri, anchored by a 1.2GW campus in New Florence alongside a grid capacity framework with Ameren and Evergy to protect local ratepayers. Neocloud Nebius is also going big in Missouri, breaking ground on a 400-acre, up-to-1.2GW campus in Independence while announcing a second gigawatt-scale campus in Pennsylvania targeting 250-350MW by end of 2027. Not every project is winning local support. A $1.6 billion, 150MW proposal in Cleveland was rejected by the city's mayor, with the end user still unidentified.
International Development
Italy has announced plans for what could become Europe's largest data center, a €4 billion proposal to redevelop a former Enel power plant in Trino. Digital Realty, meanwhile, is opening its first Barcelona facility, BCN1, and breaking ground on its 66MW PAR15 site in Paris, which is being built on a former French Air Force base. Norway is emerging as an AI infrastructure hub, with multiple developers announcing projects, including Polar DC's 40MW Herøya facility and Arcem's 130MW Bergen campus. In Canada, Hive's Buzz HPC subsidiary is planning a 320MW AI data center in the Greater Toronto area, targeting more than 100,000 GPUs at full build-out and a CA$3.5 billion total investment.
Next-Gen Technology: Quantum and Cooling Developments
The quantum computing space just received a major boost, with the US Department of Commerce awarding $2 billion to American quantum firms. $1 billion of it will go to IBM's new Anderon quantum foundry, described as America's first pure-play quantum foundry. Closer to deployment, Equal1 has unveiled RacQ, a rack-mounted silicon-spin quantum computer that reportedly fits a standard 19-inch data center rack and runs on a 1.6kW power socket. The launch could help move hybrid quantum-classical deployments closer to conventional data center environments.
On the cooling front, University of Illinois researchers have developed a 3D-printed copper cold plate that could cut cooling-related energy usage to just 1.1% of facility power, versus roughly 30% for conventional air cooling. The design relies on topology optimization and electrochemical additive manufacturing. And in one of the week’s more futuristic developments, Lonestar has signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA to advance concepts for lunar data storage and off-world compute infrastructure.