Segment
Sites and construction: where facilities go and how fast they get built
A data centre is a construction project with an unusual constraint list: power first, then water, then fibre, then land, then labour. This segment covers how sites are chosen, who owns and operates them, and why schedules are set by equipment deliveries rather than by concrete.
In one sentence
Data-centre facilities cover the selection of sites, the ownership and operating models under which capacity is built and leased, and the construction and equipment procurement that determine delivery timelines.
The selection criteria have reordered. Network latency and proximity to users used to lead; available power now does, because a site without power cannot host anything regardless of its other merits. Water availability, permitting climate, fibre routes, land, and access to construction labour follow.
The industry's structure reflects two different customer needs. Colocation providers build and operate shells and infrastructure and lease space and power to tenants, which suits enterprises and anyone wanting capacity without a construction programme. Hyperscale operators build for themselves at large scale, often on campuses measured in hundreds of megawatts. Both models increasingly compete for the same power, the same equipment and the same contractors.
How this breaks down
Split by how the site is chosen, who owns it, and what determines the build schedule.
- Sites and constructionthis page
- Site selectionThe criteria that decide where capacity gets built, in the order they now actually apply.Definition pageChokepoint
- Colocation and hyperscaleLeasing space and power versus building your own campus, and how AI changed both.Definition pageChokepoint
- ConstructionLong-lead electrical equipment, trade labour and prefabrication — the real critical path.Definition pageChokepoint
What this depends on
4 of these are marked as a chokepoint: a handful of qualified suppliers, a multi-year lead time, or a single geography.
- Supply chainChokepoint
Electrical equipment lead times
Transformers, switchgear and generators frequently take longer than the building, so procurement starts before design is complete.
Transformers - ResourceChokepoint
Skilled construction labour
Electricians and mechanical trades in the required numbers are scarce in the regions where builds are concentrated.
- Supply chainChokepoint
A grid connection of the right size
A shell without a firm connection is a building rather than capacity, and the connection is the item on the programme with the longest and least controllable timeline.
Grid interconnection - ResourceChokepoint
Powered land and a permitting regime that will grant it
Land is not scarce. Land with a path to a hundred megawatts, water and fibre, in a jurisdiction willing to permit all three, is.
Companies across Sites and construction
Every company named on a step below this page, ordered by how many of those steps it appears at. Compiled from the pages themselves rather than written separately, so the two cannot disagree. Not a ranking and not a recommendation.
- Vantage Data CentersPrivate2 steps
- CyrusOnePrivate1 step
9 more companies appear at a single step each; they are named on the pages for those steps.
How these pages are written
Each page explains one technology in plain language, states what it depends on, and names companies by what they supply at that step. Company roles are described qualitatively and deliberately carry no market shares, revenue figures or rankings — those change faster than an explainer can, and a stale number is worse than none. Ticker links point at company pages on this site and are provided for reference only.
Nothing here is investment advice, a recommendation, or a forecast. A company named on a page about a technology is not thereby a good investment, and the chokepoints described are structural facts about supply chains rather than predictions about prices. Technology moves; where a page describes something as unresolved or in development, that was true when it was written.
Plutux is not an investment adviser. Market data and AI-generated analysis are for information and education only, not investment advice. Disclaimer