Data Center News Roundup: Portugal Hit by Corruption Scandal, New Investments in Asia

With data center news moving faster than ever, we want to make it easy for industry professionals to cut through the noise and find the most important stories of the week.

The Data Center Knowledge News Roundup brings you the latest news and developments across the data center industry – from investments and mergers to security threats and industry trends.

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Portuguese Probe

The Portuguese data center industry found itself in the center of a storm this week following Prime Minister Antonio Costa's resignation amid an investigation into possible government corruption.

The probe that plunged the nation into crisis is related to natural resources concessions and a data center project.

According to reports, five people were detained as part of the investigation, including two Portuguese data center executives.

Following Costa’s resignation, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa announced that a snap election would take place on March 10. Costa's resignation formally takes effect in early December.

AI Partnerships

In artificial intelligence (AI) news, VMware announced partnerships with Intel and IBM to make it easier for enterprises to build and deploy AI applications on-premises so they can better meet their data privacy and security requirements.

Related:VMware Partners with Intel, IBM on AI for Enterprises

At its VMware Explore Barcelona conference, VMware said it is collaborating with Intel to provide a jointly validated AI stack that combines VMware Cloud Foundation software with Intel's existing AI software suite, Intel Xeon processors with built-in AI accelerators, and Intel Max Series GPUs.

Elsewhere, AI startup Anthropic will be one of the first companies to use new chips from Google, deepening their partnership after a recent cloud computing agreement. 

Anthropic has used Google Cloud services since 2021, the year the startup was founded. As part of the new agreement, Anthropic will use more of Google Cloud's infrastructure and security features, the companies said. 

Asian Investments

Data center investments continued at pace this week, with Indian conglomerate Adani announcing it will spend around $1.5 billion on its fledgling data center business in the next three years.

The group, owned by billionaire Gautam Adani, is planning to build nine data centers in India by 2030. This will provide infrastructure for the booming digital services demand in the nation of 1.4 billion people that’s already luring the biggest global firms such as Amazon and Google.

Related:New Data Center Developments: November 2023

Staying in Asia, Japan is set to allocate almost ¥2 trillion ($13.3 billion) in an extra budget to boost its capacity to make and secure semiconductors at home, according to government officials familiar with the matter. 

Future Hubs

In construction news, Siemens will invest $510 million in new US manufacturing capacity, including an electrical equipment plant in Texas, to expand its supply chain in North America.

The investments will focus on growing data center, semiconductor, and battery manufacturing, the German industrial giant said. 

In South America, ODATA has cut the ribbon on its largest data center campus in Chile and announced the expansion of its existing ST01 site. Located in San Bernardo, ST02 offers up to 40.6 MW of IT load capacity and stands at approximately 366,000 square feet.

Google is moving forward with the construction of a "global data center" in Uruguay after the tech giant received the necessary environmental permits.

"For Uruguay, it is an excellent sign, in the sense of the advance of innovation, technology, and the digital economy," said Uruguay's Secretary of the Presidency, Álvaro Delgado.

Over in Europe, Norwegian data center company Green Mountain and German power company KMW marked the start of construction of their new sustainable data center in Mainz, outside Frankfurt.

Elsewhere, Equinix subsidiary MainOne has confirmed the launch of a new data center in Grand Bassam, Cote d'Ivoire; ST Telemedia is reportedly expanding its presence in the Philippines; and GAW Capital Partners is set to break ground on a new project in Indonesia.

Overcoming the Hurdles

Demand for data centers continues to soar, but can the data center industry keep up?

The answer is unclear, according to Data Center Knowledge writer Christopher Tozzi, who this week took a closer look at the key challenges impacting data center industry growth.

Check out the full article to discover the pinch points, and what's being done to overcome these hurdles.

Other Great Reads on DCK This Week

Preventing Sabotage and Improving Physical Data Center Security. Organizations should adopt a layered approach to physical security to protect their high-value data center assets.

How the COOLERCHIPS Program Aims to Improve Data Center Cooling. ARPA-E's COOLERCHIPS program is pioneering high-performance, energy-efficient cooling solutions for data centers, with the goal of reducing the power consumption of cooling.

Biden's Executive Order On AI Is Focused on Spurring Innovation. Pay attention to these four notable directives in Biden's AI Executive Order.

How IIoT Networks Use SD-WAN. Industrial IoT sensors can use SD-WAN to securely transmit data to improve central management and optimize supply chains.

China AI Chipmaker Moore Threads Cuts Jobs After US Blacklisting. The impending layoffs suggest the startup is bracing for the impact of the US blockade.