Data Center Development Trends in 2025

Vertiv CEO Giordano Albertazzi outlines data center trends in 2025: AI, energy efficiency, sustainability, cybersecurity and cooling innovation.

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI), the need for clean technologies, and the need for improved cybersecurity are all driving the transformation of the data center industry as we move toward 2025. At Vertiv, we enjoy seeing the trends and providing our customers with solutions that enable them to thrive amid these changes.

Having predicted the growing role of artificial intelligence and the need for advanced cooling and power strategies in 2024, we now focus on how these trends will deepen and expand in the coming year.

Here are the key trends shaping the data center landscape in 2025, based on insights from Vertiv’s team of experts:

Trend 1 - Innovation in Power and Cooling Infrastructure

AI continues to reshape the operational landscape, increasing rack density to unprecedented levels. By 2025, data centers will increasingly need to handle workloads that require hundreds of kilowatts per rack, a sharp departure from the traditional 8-10 kW densities of just a few years ago.

Key developments include the following:

Cold and Immersion Cooling Technologies: These advanced cooling methods will become mainstream, offering efficient solutions for heat removal directly at the rack level. Enterprise data centers, once dominated by air cooling, will increasingly use liquid cooling systems as AI-related workloads become more common.

Integrated Infrastructure: Integrating servers with factory-installed liquid cooling systems will simplify manufacturing and deployment, reduce equipment footprint, and improve system efficiency.

Hybrid Cooling Models: Configurations combining liquid-liquid, liquid-air, and liquid-refrigerated cooling will support both new and retrofit applications, providing scalability and flexibility.

High Density UPS Systems: Liquid cooling systems will be paired with dedicated high density Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems to ensure robust operation during peak loads and voltage fluctuations.

These innovations are not just a technical necessity, they are a business imperative. Our customers demand scalable, efficient solutions to power and cool their AI factories, and we are ready to deliver.

Trend 2 - Data center energy availability comes to the forefront

As data centers consume an ever-increasing share of the world’s electricity – potentially from 2% today to 4% by 2030 – energy availability will become a critical issue. The combination of overloaded grids, rising costs and increasing carbon emissions will push the industry to embrace alternative energy solutions and microgrids.

New solutions include the following:

Microgrid Deployment: Data centers will increasingly use microgrids to stabilize power supply and harness renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.

Alternative Battery Chemistries: Lithium-ion batteries will continue to dominate in the short term, but new chemistries will emerge that are tailored for data center applications and provide greater sustainability and efficiency.

Fuel cells and modular reactors: Compact nuclear reactors and hydrogen-based fuel cells, still in the early stages of development, promise to be long-term solutions for large data centers.

Regulation: Governments around the world are expected to tighten energy requirements for data centers, incentivizing operators to adopt energy-efficient technologies and reduce emissions.

Energy efficiency is no longer a competitive advantage, but a necessary condition for survival in a world that is increasingly experiencing resource scarcity.

Trend 3 - Collaboration to create AI factories

The emergence of AI factories—data centers designed to handle massive AI workloads—represents one of the most profound disruptions in the history of our industry. Racks of 500 to 1,000 kW are becoming the new norm, requiring unprecedented levels of collaboration across industry participants.

Collaborative efforts include the following:

Chipmakers and Infrastructure Providers: Partnerships between chipmakers, cooling solution providers, and data center operators will facilitate the development of integrated solutions optimized for AI workloads.

AI-powered design tools: Using AI to speed the design and configuration of power and cooling systems will enable faster deployment and increased standardization.

Utilities and Data Centers: Close collaboration with utilities will be critical to ensure reliable power supply and develop energy-efficient roadmaps for future expansion.

Such collaboration will enable the industry to meet AI needs while maintaining operational efficiency and sustainability.

Trend 4: Cybersecurity is becoming both easier and more complex thanks to artificial intelligence

The double-edged nature of AI is evident in cybersecurity. While AI-powered tools improve defense mechanisms, they also give attackers the ability to carry out more sophisticated and large-scale cyberattacks.

We predict the evolution of threats:

AI-powered attacks: Cybercriminals are using AI to identify vulnerabilities, automate attack strategies, and expand their target range to include embedded devices and control systems.

Proactive Defense: Data center operators must implement AI-powered cybersecurity solutions to predict, detect, and mitigate threats in real time.

Zero Trust Architecture: Implementing a “zero trust” approach, where no user or system is inherently trusted, will be essential to countering increasingly sophisticated attack vectors.

Industry Collaboration: Coordination among data center operators, technology providers, and regulators will be critical to combating emerging threats.

As the backbone of the digital economy, data centers must remain vigilant and proactive in protecting their infrastructure from evolving cyber risks.

Trend 5 - AI and Energy Management in Data Centers

The regulatory landscape surrounding AI and data centers is rapidly evolving, and is likely to see significant changes in 2025. Governments around the world are grappling with the implications of AI—from ethical concerns to energy consumption—and developing policies to support its development and use.

We predict the following:

AI regulations: Legislation similar to the European Union's Artificial Intelligence Act will become more common and will address issues such as data privacy, algorithm transparency, and the ethical use of AI.

Energy and Environmental Compliance: Regulators will continue to monitor data center resource use, imposing stricter limits on energy and water consumption and requiring more detailed reporting of greenhouse gas emissions.

Localized governance: While global standards may remain elusive, regional and national regulations will set the tone for compliance and innovation.

Navigating these regulatory landscapes will require agility, foresight, and a commitment to transparency. Those who adapt quickly and proactively will be best positioned to lead the industry forward.