Cool Vector

david95a
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Investing
  • Updated Daily

Cool Vector covers the rise of data centers and the digital infrastructure investment asset class. Through interviews and panel discussion with leaders in operations, capital, energy, real estate and technology, Cool Vector offers in-depth, lively conversations with the entire ecosystem of the booming digital infrastructure world. Cool Vector is produced by financial journalist David Snow in partnership with long-time data center operators Phillip Koblence and Nabeel Mahmood.  Full episodes of Cool Vector live on Apple Podcasts and other podcast channels, and video clips are shared on LinkedIn, TikTok and Instagram. The Cool Vector video-podcast homepage is here: https://coolvectormedia.com/ Socials: LinkedIn linkedin.com/company/cool-vector-media/posts/?feedView=all Instagram instagram.com/coolvectormedia TikTok tiktok.com/@coolvectormedia?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc Spotify podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/elatromme Website coolvectormedia.com

  1. Sep 29

    How to Build Two Gigawatts in West Texas

    A planned two-gigawatt data center campus in West Texas will rely on behind-the-meter generation powered by abundant local natural gas, according to the CEOs of PowerBridge and Liberty Energy, the two companies partnering on the project. In an extensive interview with Cool Vector, Alex Hernandez, CEO of PowerBridge, and Ron Gusek, CEO of Liberty Energy, explained the scope of the project and the natural advantages that West Texas enjoys as a location for digital infrastructure, including pre-existing energy infrastructure, "produced" fracking water and a relatively sparse population. Hernandez argues the West Texas Permian Basin is positioned to become the most important digital hub in the world.  Alpha Digital Campus will be built on 300,000 acres of strategically positioned land, and connected to the national fiber network by a 2,000-mile conduit.  Hernandez tells Cool Vector's David Snow and Cloud2Ground's Hadassa Lutz: "When good projects and good sites begin to cluster with one another, there is an exponential growth effect that ultimately leaves the area with the conditions precedent around abundance, energy, and network to become a very important market." Among the key takeaways of this Cool Vector episode: • Behind-the-meter power is now a long-term grid asset. What was once conceived as a short-term fix while waiting for grid connection has evolved into a permanent part of grid infrastructure, contributing power to the community rather than drawing from it. • The Permian Basin has a structural cost advantage. Alpha Digital sits roughly ten miles from the Waha gas hub with access to four pipeline interconnections, giving customers the most advantaged natural gas supply in North America and a significantly lower total cost of ownership, according to Hernandez. • Liberty Energy's oilfield services background is a direct competitive advantage. The company already operates thousands of pieces of rotating heavy equipment, runs mobile gas-fired generation in remote locations, and employs roughly a thousand mechanics and electronics technicians who can migrate directly into the power generation business. • Capital markets are wide open for the right projects. Liberty raised $1.3 billion in the convert market earlier this year and found abundant investor appetite, with project-level debt backstopped by energy services agreements with investment-grade hyperscaler counterparties keeping the cost of capital competitive. Access the full transcript and a searchable library of content at the Cool Vector Substack #coolvector #datacenters #digitalinfrastructure #westtexas #permianbasin #behindthemeter #hyperscaler

  2. Sep 28

    PTC and Nomad Futurist Unite for Golf and Next-Gen Development

    A two-day charity golf tournament - the Nomad Ho'ohui Invitational - will now kick off the annual Pacific Telecommunications Council, according to Brian Moon, CEO of PTC, and Nabeel Mahmood, co-founder of the non-profit Nomad Futurist Foundation. The Nomad Ho'ohui, an invitation-only Ryder Cup-style matched play competition, will take place January 15 and 16 at the Kapolei Golf Club, blending industry networking with a mission to grow the next generation of digital infrastructure talent. The golf tournament collaboration between Nomad Futurist and PTC grew out of a shared mission: advancing digital infrastructure by widening who gets to build it. Nomad Futurist was born at PTC seven years ago, when Mahmood and co-founder Phillip Koblence noticed a dearth of younger professionals at the event, and decided to launch a platform to demystify digital infrastructure through storytelling and, eventually, a free educational academy for the next generation of workers. "Ho'ohui" is a Hawaiian word meaning to unite or bring together, reflecting Nomad Futurists and the PTC's broader goal of turning industry connections into a lasting community rather than one-off networking. The Nomad Ho'ohui Invitational will raise money for regional, national, and global philanthropic initiatives chosen by team captains. To learn more about the event and how to sign up, click here: https://www.nomadhoohui.com/ Access the full transcript and a searchable library of content at the Cool Vector Substack #coolvector #ptc #nomadfuturist #digitalinfrastructure #workforcedevelopment #tournament #hawaii #golf

  3. Sep 15

    Data Centers Have a Community Engagement Problem

    The data center industry has been caught off-guard by public backlash, and must respond with transparency and much deeper community engagement, three communications veterans tell Cool Vector.  The Cool Vector episode, "Data Centers Have a Community Engagement Problem," includes Megan Baker, founder and principal of Tuli Public Affairs, Ilissa Miller, founder and CEO of iMiller Public Relations, and Phillip Koblence, CEO of Critical Ventures as well as co-founder of Nomad Futurist. The experts unpack why data center projects are eliciting fierce local opposition. They discuss how, after decades of relative invisibility, digital infrastructure has suddenly become a lightning rod. Among the challenges, public dialogue conflates digital infrastructure with broader anxieties about AI, surveillance, and Big Tech overreach, even as demand for the industry's services has never been higher. Baker, Miller, and Koblence trace data centers' problems to a pattern of reactive, legally guarded communication that skips community listening in favor of trying to sell a project's benefits. They argue that changing this pattern will require humanizing the industry, tailoring outreach to each community's specific concerns, and being more transparent about why a given project is being built where it is. Among the key takeaways of this episode: • Opposition to data centers is rooted in fear of AI, surveillance, and being taken advantage of by wealthy outsiders, which is why purely technical rebuttals rarely land with skeptical communities. • Local elected officials often can't answer basic constituent questions about proposed projects, leaving them unable to defend their support. This was demonstrated when a longtime Utah senate leader lost his seat largely over his support for a high-profile data center project. • Effective community engagement starts with understanding a community's specific values and priorities. • The industry lacks shared standards or tools for navigating these conversations, and developers should treat community engagement lessons as something to share collaboratively rather than compete on, since reputational damage in one town can follow a company into the next. Access the full transcript and a searchable library of content at the Cool Vector Substack #coolvector #datacenters #digitalinfrastructure #communityengagement #publicaffairs

  4. Sep 10

    What Might 'Throw a Wrench' Into Data Center Financings?

    A boom in off-balance-sheet data center development is made possible by the good credit of hyperscaler customers, says Harold Chen, Senior Director in Fitch's Complex Credit Group. In a conversation with Cool Vector, Chen says he expects courts to enforce the guarantees made to these special-purpose vehicles, and to their underlying bondholders, should hyperscalers find it necessary to walk away from data center lease agreements.  Chen joins Hadassa Lutz, a partner at Cloud2Ground and host David Snow to explain how these partnership structures are designed to isolate projects and protect lenders, making it difficult to “throw a wrench” into the flow of cash used to repay that debt. But construction delays, power constraints, lease terms and performance requirements can still complicate the equation. Among the key takeaways of this conversation: • Shorter, rolling lease terms (say, four-year renewals instead of a single 15-to-20-year lease) introduce real non-renewal risk, but are favored by hyperscalers seeking maximum flexibility, and protection against obsolescence risk.  • Power sources built and controlled by the data center developers (called 'behind-the-meter' power) bypass grid dependency, but they add project and performance risk, especially when the operator has no track record running power generation. • Terminal value guarantees (TVGs) and termination fees can mitigate hyperscaler tenant walk-away risk. Hyperscalers generally have few easy "outs" from binding lease contracts once signed. Access the full transcript and a searchable library of content at the Cool Vector Substack: https://coolvector.substack.com/p/what-might-throw-a-wrench-into-data?r=4tjd55 #coolvector #datacenters #infrastructure #creditratings #projectfinance #privatecredit

  5. Aug 25

    The 'Big Game Changers' for Data Center MEP Engineers

    The growing implementation of liquid cooling technologies is forcing data center MEP engineers to rethink their fundamental design assumptions, says Chris Sutton, founder of Sutton Engineering which specializes in data center design. Sutton tells Cool Vector that, while the electrical side of data center infrastructure reached a level of maturity some time ago, the mechanical side is now in the middle of a significant transformation, and keeping up with that transformation comes down to having a team of skilled engineers. Sutton Engineering's biggest focus right now is building a training program capable of bringing engineers from adjacent fields up to speed in the rapidly evolving world of data center MEP design. Access the full transcript and a searchable content library at the Cool Vector Substack: https://coolvector.substack.com/p/the-big-game-changers-for-data-center?r=4tjd55&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true #coolvector #datacenter #AI #energy #infrastructure #MEP

  6. Aug 4

    Emerging Markets Need More Data Centers

    Emerging and developing markets remain significantly underinvested in digital infrastructure, says Obinna Isiadinso, the global sector lead for data centers and cloud services investments at the International Finance Corporation (IFC). "India today has something like 1.7 gigawatts of capacity, compared to Northern Virginia that has 3 or 4 gigawatts," Isiadinso tells Cool Vector, citing the country as an example of an emerging market facing a compute constraint.  Isiadinso, whose team has invested in data centers since 2005 and now holds roughly $400 million in the sector out of a broader $3 billion digital infrastructure portfolio, walks through how the IFC identifies opportunity across roughly 20 priority markets, why its decades-long presence gives it credibility with regulators and governments other capital providers haven't yet reached, and which regions are pulling ahead in the race for capacity. Key Takeaways: • Asia leads IFC's regional exposure, followed by Latin America and Africa. India and Malaysia are the standout Asian markets, with recent IFC commitments including debt financing to expand NTT's platform in India and Yondr Group's 300-megawatt hyperscale facility in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. • Brazil, South Africa, and Poland anchor their regions. Brazil is IFC's top Latin American market, where it holds exposure through Scala Data Centers; South Africa holds roughly 60% of Africa's data center capacity; and Poland remains IFC's primary Eastern European focus, with growing interest in Romania and Bulgaria. • AI demand is emerging alongside cloud. While collocation and cloud demand still dominate, IFC is starting to see meaningful AI-driven demand in its largest markets — particularly Brazil, India, and Malaysia. • Projects above roughly 300 megawatts can outgrow the pool of institutional buyers able to acquire them once stabilized, though Isiadinso says those cases remain rare — most projects under 100 megawatts see strong acquisition interest. Access the full transcript and a searchable archive at the Cool Vector Substack. #digitalinfrastructure #datacenter #AI

  7. Jul 30

    Oracle’s Director of Construction Says Building Data Centers is Like Building Cities

    Building AI infrastructure at gigawatt scale means "developing city-sized machines,'" says Craig Deering, senior construction manager at Oracle.  Drawing on decades of experience — from dismantling AT&T and building the Baby Bells to leading cloud and now AI data center projects — Deering tells Cool Vector: "The challenges of developing a city-sized machine have been known for at least a century. We just need to realize that we're building at that scale." Deering shares his outlook on the economics of AI compute, the human toll of building at unprecedented speed, and why he remains bullish on AI's impact on jobs despite decades spent watching technology reshape his industry. Key Takeaways: • Job sites that once had 1,200 workers now have 6,000 to 8,000, split across multiple companies — a human resource challenge on a scale Deering compares to building the Panama Canal or Gilded Age company towns like Hershey, Pennsylvania • Driving down the incremental cost of AI token production is the industry's central equation, tying directly into Jevon's paradox: as compute gets cheaper, demand explodes • Structural job displacement is real, but Deering argues history — from hand-drafting to CAD to BIM — shows technology ultimately expands opportunity rather than eliminating it Access the full transcript and a searchable archive at the Cool Vector Substack. #digitalinfrastructure #datacenter #AI

  8. Jul 27

    Solutions for the Data Center ‘Power Bottleneck’

    Data centers have access to plenty of power, but it's often stranded rather than put to use, says Ken Sullivan, co-founder and CEO of Bay Compute. "Power is the bottleneck to AI growth," Sullivan says. "A lot of the 'colos' and data centers are operating at 30, 40, 50% average power utilization." Sullivan lays out how the shift toward AI inference is intensifying the power problem, why colocation operators are now being forced to optimize infrastructure they've never had to think about before, and why he believes the industry's component-by-component fixes are hitting diminishing returns. Key Takeaways: • Inference workloads create a much larger amplitude in power spikes than traditional cloud or training data centers, driving down average utilization and worsening the stranded-capacity problem — especially at edge and colocation facilities. • Bay Compute's customers are unlocking 10-20% more capacity. By reducing peak power events, the company says its customers are able to free up additional capacity and sell it on to their own customers. • Unlike hyperscalers, which have spent 20 years building tools to optimize dollar-per-token and watt-per-token, colocation facility operators historically passed power costs straight to tenants and had no incentive to optimize until new power became scarce. • Most data center projects aren't approved until a power contract is secured, a shift from the old land-first model, pushing developers into secondary and tertiary markets where power is available. Access the full transcript and a searchable content library at the Cool Vector Substack:  https://open.substack.com/pub/coolvector/p/solutions-for-the-data-center-power?r=4tjd55&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true #coolvector #datacenter #AI #inference #energy #power #colocation

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About

Cool Vector covers the rise of data centers and the digital infrastructure investment asset class. Through interviews and panel discussion with leaders in operations, capital, energy, real estate and technology, Cool Vector offers in-depth, lively conversations with the entire ecosystem of the booming digital infrastructure world. Cool Vector is produced by financial journalist David Snow in partnership with long-time data center operators Phillip Koblence and Nabeel Mahmood.  Full episodes of Cool Vector live on Apple Podcasts and other podcast channels, and video clips are shared on LinkedIn, TikTok and Instagram. The Cool Vector video-podcast homepage is here: https://coolvectormedia.com/ Socials: LinkedIn linkedin.com/company/cool-vector-media/posts/?feedView=all Instagram instagram.com/coolvectormedia TikTok tiktok.com/@coolvectormedia?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc Spotify podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/elatromme Website coolvectormedia.com

Information

  • Creator
    david95a
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    71
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2024 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Cool Vector

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