Data Center Frontier Trends Summit 2025: AI, Power Constraints, and Moonshots Take the Stage in Reston

Aug. 28, RESTON, Va. -- It’s the last day of the second-annual Data Center Frontier Trends Summit, marking the conclusion of a gathering of significant players in the data center world and their customers, all of whom are looking to get a better handle on the data center industry as it grapples with AI-fueled power demands, grid constraints, and an urgent need for infrastructure innovation.

Taking place in the heart of Northern Virginia’s Data Center Alley, acknowledged as the world’s premier data center hotspot, the conference in Reston, VA saw a significant increase in attendance in its second year, going from just over 300 attendees in its inaugural year to close to five hundred attendees this year.

Not unexpected, many of the attendees were newcomers to the event, attracted by the strong list of speakers focused on critical topics to the industry, with an emphasis on power and artificial intelligence. Many conversations with the attendees had them identifying specific topics that were primary motivators to attend, while one attendee simply told us, “After reading the presentation descriptions and the speakers list, how could we not attend?”

From the opening keynote, “Playbook Interrupted” presented by Chris Downie, CEO of Flexential, the tone and message of the conference was made clear. Touching on topics such as AI’s insatiable resource appetite, tightening energy policies, and power scarcity, Downie made it clear that today's data centers are breaking old frameworks and demanding new strategies for growth and resilience.

The message was clear: times have changed and industry executives need to be ready to change with them. Staying ahead of the curve is going to be more difficult, but just as important. It is time to develop a new playbook for data center business operations.

Getting to the Core of It

With the demand for AI-centric data centers continuing to increase, attendees had a lot of concerns and questions about the impact of AI on data center infrastructure and operations.

The panel titled “Building for AI Workloads and Using AI for Smarter Data Centers" cut right to the core concerns. Led by Steve Carlini, Chief Advocate for Data Centers and AI, Schneider Electric, the panel highlighted the NVIDIA reference designs created by Schneider that focused on energy, density, and cooling. Other panel members, including Schneider unit Motivair, addressed their company solutions to liquid cooling and the advantages of using AI tools to improve OPEX, which, in the case of Compass Datacenters, were reported in the 40% range.

Ultimately the panel addressed how AI-centric and related changes in the data center were going to result in improved energy usage and overall sustainability.

From the specific concerns of AI in the data center, the conference moved on to the key enabling technology, power. Power constraints may well be the most significant inhibitor of data center development. Power availability and delivery are becomiing the guides by where new data centers can be established. With advice from the panel members from the data center and energy generation industries, attendees got an idea of strategies that can be applied in their own data center development needs. The focus on streamlining the energy supply chain gave numerous ways to minimize potential development issues.

This panel also led the attendees into the next discussion with two specific strategies for getting sites with appropriate power, adaptive reuse and power-rich site selection. The panel members addressed not just technology solutions, highlighting how standards were changing to meet AI power demands, but also how companies are rethinking power sourcing, capacity planning and sustainability.  Actionable solutions were also discussed on how to go about finding currently unrecognized sites that can obtain power on the scale required.

Sticking with the theme of energy acquisition, the next panel brought a focus on natural gas. After years of being an also-ran in backup power and on-site energy, natural gas is emerging as a potentially significant driver of growth in data center power. While recent industry announcements have highlighted the potential for natural gas power delivered at  scale, this panel addressed the practicalities of developing new natural gas power generation facilities to accompany your data centers.

As data centers continue to appear in unexpected locations, the final panel on day one explored the rapid growth of edge data centers. Once developed primarily to serve customers and communities at the margins, these facilities are now recognized as essential components of a localized digital infrastructure. The discussion highlighted the importance of building systems that can reduce application latency, many of which demand top-tier performance, and the role of hybrid connectivity in creating a seamless user experience. The session sparked strong engagement, with attendees asking pointed questions about the real needs and growing demand for distributed digital infrastructure.

At the evening reception, a recurring theme emerged in conversations among attendees: many realized that challenges they once thought were unique to their own organizations were widely shared across the industry. In several cases, speakers had already highlighted solutions that could directly address these issues, offering attendees a sense of validation and optimism.

Day Two

Day Two opened with a keynote from Rob Coyle, Director of Technical Programs at the Open Compute Project Foundation. Coyle emphasized how OCP’s collaborative mission is advancing multiple facets of the data center industry. Drawing on examples from AI, he illustrated how OCP’s member-driven initiatives are already accelerating the development of AI-ready data centers, with innovative solutions emerging from a range of participating vendors.

The morning sessions followed with practical insights on the realities of building for AI. Speakers explored how site selection strategies are evolving, why AI-centric design has become the standard rather than the exception, and how AI itself is being applied to untangle the growing complexity of data center development.

In the afternoon, the focus shifted to concrete solutions for today’s pressing challenges—including cooling, batteries, and behind-the-meter power. The strong level of audience engagement, particularly with questions that pressed presenters to look beyond current deployments, underscored the urgency and appetite for next-generation answers.

The day concluded with structured roundtable discussions, which drew more than 200 participants for in-depth conversations with vendors. Attendees selected two focused sessions from a range of topics such as AI-ready data centers, construction practices, liquid cooling, long-term sustainability, and backup power. The small-group format gave participants direct access to vendors and encouraged targeted problem-solving.

Looking ahead, Day Three promises to maintain this momentum with a forward-looking program centered on “moonshot” ideas—concepts that aim to reset the boundaries of digital infrastructure. In a Shark Tank-style format, innovators will pitch their visions to a panel of judges from the Nomad Futurist Foundation alongside a well-known digital infrastructure strategist. After a round of questioning and evaluation, the audience will vote on the most compelling idea. All moonshot presenters will also be featured in upcoming interviews on the Data Center Frontier Show podcast.

Closing Keynote Review: Compass Leaders Chart a Witty and Insightful Blueprint for Data Center Innovation

The Data Center Frontier Trends Summit wrapped on a high note with an energetic and thought-provoking closing keynote from Nancy Novak, Chief Innovation Officer at Compass Datacenters, and Amy Marks, the company’s SVP of Innovation. Together, the two industry veterans delivered a conversation that was equal parts sharp wit, seasoned perspective, and a rallying cry for how the digital infrastructure sector must rethink innovation in the age of AI and HPC.

With a blend of humor and hard truths, Novak and Marks walked attendees through the scale of challenges ahead: constrained power supplies, workforce shortages, supply chain volatility, and the sheer pace at which AI is reshaping demand curves. What could have been a sober assessment instead became a lively dialogue peppered with quick turns of phrase, candid reflections, and a contagious sense of optimism.

Their central message was clear: data center innovation can no longer be episodic or incremental. It must be embedded as a cultural imperative at every level of every organization. Marks emphasized the need for industrialized approaches to construction—borrowing methods from manufacturing to achieve speed, repeatability, and sustainability at unprecedented scale. Novak underscored the human side, noting that innovation thrives only when companies foster cultures where every team member is empowered to experiment, challenge assumptions, and drive change.

What made this keynote resonate was the credibility both leaders brought from decades of real-world execution. They spoke not just about blueprints, but about blueprints tested in the field: anecdotes of lessons learned, innovations that stuck, and the sometimes-messy reality of scaling breakthroughs. The audience laughed, nodded, and scribbled notes in equal measure.

As the Summit closed, Novak and Marks left attendees with more than a framework for innovation; they left them with the sense that the data center industry’s next great leap is not just about technology or megawatts, but about how boldly it embraces innovation as a shared cultural engine. - MV