AI Data Center: How to Avoid a Stranded Asset in 10 Years

Series "The data center through an investor's eyes" · Stranded asset · Article 9 · PUE and value · Retrofit

A data center is financed over 15 to 20 years. The chips inside it change every year. NVIDIA now releases a new generation of systems on an annual cadence, and each draws more power per rack than the last. For a fund or a lender, the real question is not "can this site host AI servers today?" but "will it host the ones of 2030 and 2035?". A building that cannot keep up becomes a stranded asset: it still runs, but no one wants to put their machines there at the expected price.

THE PROBLEM: A 20-YEAR BUILDING FOR ONE-YEAR CHIPS

Ten years ago, a data center rack drew 5 to 10 kW and was air cooled. NVIDIA's current AI systems (GB200 and GB300 NVL72) run at around 120 to 140 kW per rack with direct liquid cooling. The next generation announced for 2027, Rubin Ultra in the "Kyber" architecture, targets around 600 kW per rack, and the vendor is preparing 800 V DC power distribution to support it.

These are vendor roadmap figures and they can slip. But the direction is clear, and it is not limited to giant campuses. A 5 to 10 MW regional site that wants to serve AI inference will face the same densities, rack by rack.

FIVE FACTORS THAT DECIDE HOW LONG THE ASSET LASTS

1. Available power

The scarcest resource and the slowest to secure. What matters is not the headline figure but the capacity contractually guaranteed by the grid operator, its schedule, and whether it can be increased. A site with 20 MW secured that cannot reach 40 MW on the same substation will be capped as soon as its tenants densify. Check the connection document obtained, the capacity steps, the headroom at the substation and transformer lead times for an extension. See our grid readiness approach.

2. The density the building can carry

A loaded AI rack often weighs over a tonne. Floor slab, ceiling height, access widths and goods lifts: a building designed for 10 kW per rack often hits its structural limits before its electrical ones. Ask what maximum density the building accepts without heavy works, and what it costs to go further.

3. Cooling

Above 40 to 50 kW per rack, air is no longer enough. Liquid cooling requires a technical water loop to the racks, heat exchangers, higher operating temperatures and space for all of it. A site designed from the start with provisions for a water loop converts in months. One that was not can need years of works while operating. Closed-loop cooling, which uses almost no water, is also becoming a local acceptance criterion.

4. Internal power distribution

Transformers, switchboards, UPS, generators, busbars: each link is sized for a given density. The announced move to 800 V DC for the highest densities will change part of this chain. An investor needs to know which part of the distribution can be replaced in phases without shutting the site, and which part is locked into the building.

5. Site flexibility

Space for extra plant on the roof or the ground, spare land, a permit that allows extension, a modular hall-by-hall design: this is what lets a site follow chip generations instead of suffering them. The building is made to last twenty years; the equipment must be replaceable.

REGULATION SPEEDS UP OBSOLESCENCE

Energy performance is becoming a regulatory criterion too. Germany already requires a PUE of 1.2 for data centers commissioned since July 2026, and thresholds of 1.5 then 1.3 for existing sites. On 21 September 2026, the European Commission proposed a common rating scheme for data centers above 500 kW, with the first labels expected in 2027, and opened a consultation on minimum performance standards. A poorly rated asset will be harder to let and to refinance. See PUE and data center value.

QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE INVESTING

A positioning study is therefore not just about checking that a site can host servers today. It must establish whether it can host the compute generations arriving over the whole holding period, at what cost and under what regulatory framework. That is the purpose of our assignments for lenders and funds, carried out with field experts.

Sources: NVIDIA public roadmaps (GTC 2025 and 2026) and trade press for rack densities; German Energy Efficiency Act (EnEfG); European Commission data centre rating scheme proposal of 21 September 2026. Vendor-announced densities may change.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS