Data Center Investment Conference & Expo (DICE) Southwest
Thu Apr 02, 2026
Data Center Investment Conference & Expo (DICE) Southwest
Where the Desert Builds, Powers, and Operates What’s Next in Digital Infrastructure
to be Hosted in Phoenix
Thursday April 2 2026 @ 7:30 AM MST
$415.00
Registration Questions?
**Please note we have pricing tiers based on ticket availability. Ticket prices will increase once we sell out of the current pricing tier. We cannot redeem a lower price once the ticket prices have been raised.
**Bisnow is a cashless, checkless operation. Please only submit payment via credit card.
Speakers and Panels
Jeff Ivey
VP, Data Center Construction,
Crusoe
Bryan Darby
VP, Strategic Technology Initiatives,
QTS
Chad Johnson
Senior Solutions Architect,
NVIDIA
Anthony Wanger
Founder & CEO,
Regnaw Capital
Mark Moody
Product Development Specialist,
Hubbell Incorporated
Moderator
Aaron Blum
Project Manager,
PARADIGM
Why You Can't Miss this Data Center Conference
What You'll Learn:
- How the Southwest’s data center boom, power and water constraints, and evolving policy landscape are reshaping its position relative to other leading U.S. regions.
- What project planning and site selection strategies are winning in Arizona, Nevada, and nearby corridors—from power and land evaluation to navigating water use, zoning, and community partnerships.
- The most effective risk mitigation approaches for issues ranging from climate and resource stress to regulatory scrutiny, ESG expectations, and long-term reputational exposure.
- How teams are compressing schedules without sacrificing reliability by leveraging modular designs, standardized platforms, and more integrated delivery models in high-demand markets.
- How deal structures and capital flows are evolving amid rising build costs, AI-driven demand, and new macro and policy variables, including platform plays, JVs, and power-constrained underwriting.
- Which practical AI, automation, and data intelligence solutions are moving from pilot to real deployment in operations, risk management, and energy optimization—and how they’re changing the role and economics of the data center.
- How leading operators are balancing advanced technology, processes, and workforce strategy to keep facilities resilient, efficient, and compliant in hotter, more resource-constrained environments.
- Which innovations in integrated design, engineering, digital modeling, and construction tech are setting new benchmarks for time-to-market, performance, and sustainability in the desert?
How You’ll Do More Business From Attending This Conference:
- Gain actionable strategies to deliver projects faster and smarter—from picking the right sites and markets to aligning design, construction, and commissioning with aggressive timelines.
- Understand how to futureproof risk management, respond to shifting regulations, and structure capital and power strategies that create durable value for customers and investors.
- See which emerging technologies in AI operations, energy management, cooling, and construction are actually moving the needle in the Southwest—and how to deploy them for real ROI.
- Build relationships that connect you to new deals, JV and capital partners, utility and policy decision-makers, and peers solving similar delivery and operational challenges.
- Leave with concrete next steps, benchmark insights, and a trusted network to help you plan, fund, power, and operate the Southwest’s next wave of digital infrastructure.
Who You’ll Network With:
Connect with industry leaders defining the future of the Southwest’s data center landscape:
- Developers, Owners & Operators — platform builders, engineers, and delivery leaders scaling mega campuses and retrofits across Phoenix, Reno, and emerging hubs.
- Construction & Design Professionals — architects, GCs, engineering firms, prefab and modular specialists turning complex desert projects into repeatable delivery models.
- Utility & Infrastructure Partners — grid planners, energy providers, and power procurement experts working to balance surging data center load with system reliability and public expectations.
- Investors & Financial Partners — institutional investors, lenders, and capital providers deploying billions into data center platforms, campuses, and power-constrained strategies.
- Technology & Solution Providers — innovators in advanced cooling, high-density infrastructure, automation, and monitoring that enable AI-ready, resource-efficient facilities.
- Policy & Regulatory Experts — public officials, advisors, and industry advocates shaping zoning, water and energy policy, and community engagement frameworks for responsible growth.
- Relevant News and Developments:
- The cost of compute: A 7 trillion dollar race to scale data centers
- Data Centers: Are The Winning Odds Less Certain In 2026?
- The AI-Driven Transformation of Data Center Investment
- Data Centers a Small, But Growing Factor in Arizona’s Water Budget
- Proposed data center prompts Tucson to regulate large water users
- Fort Meade data center will have a big footprint, documents show
- Are data centers depleting the Southwest’s resources?
- Growth of data centers requires new policies to mitigate local community impacts
- Local Governments are Learning How to Negotiate With Data Center Developers
- Data Center Trends 2025: The Future is Modular, Green and AI-Ready
- 8 Challenges Data Center Managers Must Overcome in 2025
- Data Center Development Model (Updated Sept 2025)
- Large Energy Users Want Power. Here’s How to Protect Other Ratepayers from the Costs
- AI data centers need a lot of power. That creates challenges for electric companies in the West
Are you an end user*?
Click here to be considered for a complimentary pass. *Hyperscaler, colocation provider (non-sales), investor, private equity, or enterprise tenant.
Why You Should Attend:
DICE Southwest is the essential gathering for anyone invested in how the desert’s data center boom evolves from opportunity to long-term ecosystem. With content built around real market pressures—AI-driven demand, power and water constraints, policy shifts, capital deployment, and operational excellence—this event helps you stress-test your strategy against what’s actually happening on the ground. Whether you’re breaking ground on a new campus, optimizing existing assets, or entering the region for the first time, you’ll come away with sharper perspectives, new partners, and a clearer plan to compete and succeed in one of the country’s most closely watched data center markets.
For questions or interests in becoming a speaker or sponsor, please email our global director, data centers, Adam Knobloch, at adam.knobloch@bisnow.com
To request disability-related accommodations, please contact ally.araco@bisnow.com no later than seven business days prior to the event.
Venue
Marriott Phoenix Chandler
1600 South Price Rd
Chandler, AZ 85256
Ballroom/Floor: Chandler Ballroom / Lobby Level
Agenda
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
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7:30 AM 8:20 AM |
Coffee, Networking & Breakfast
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8:20 AM 8:30 AM |
Opening Remarks: Welcome to DICE Southwest 2026!
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8:30 AM 9:10 AM |
The State of the Southwest Market: Positioning Against Other U.S. Data Center Regions
Rising AI and cloud demand have pushed Phoenix and its neighbors into the top tier of North American data center markets, but land, water, and power constraints are sharpening regional competition. Stakeholders are rethinking market strategies, from focusing on AI-ready campuses to bifurcating footprints between dense training hubs and distributed inference sites. At the same time, new policies, community scrutiny, and infrastructure limits are reshaping how quickly and how far this growth can continue. How should developers, operators, and investors position the Southwest relative to other leading U.S. regions over the next cycle?
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9:10 AM 9:50 AM |
Picking Winners in the Desert: Site Selection Strategies Across the Southwest
Choosing the “right” desert site now goes far beyond cheap land and a nearby substation, as water availability, wastewater partnerships, and long-term resilience rise to the top of the checklist. Developers and operators are co-locating with infrastructure, modeling climate and regulatory risk, and exploring creative land and concession structures to unlock viable locations. With new local ordinances and water-use scrutiny emerging across the region, how will leading players recalibrate site selection strategies for the next decade?
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9:50 AM 10:10 AM |
Networking Break
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10:10 AM 10:50 AM |
The Risk Roundtable: De-Risking Projects Across the Full Asset Lifecycle
Risk now touches every phase of a data center’s life, from entitlement fights over water and power to long-term ESG, regulatory, and reputational exposure. Developers, investors, utilities, and operators are building new risk-sharing structures, enhancing disclosures, and using data tools to measure and manage environmental and social impacts in real time. As climate, policy, and community pressures intensify, what does a truly end-to-end risk strategy look like for the next generation of campuses?
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10:50 AM 11:30 AM |
Time Is the Tenant: Compressing Schedules Without Compromising Reliability
AI and hyperscale customers want capacity yesterday, pushing traditional delivery models to their breaking point. Builders are responding with modular designs, standardized platforms, and more parallelized workflows to cut months out of schedules while still maintaining uptime, safety, and compliance standards. As grid queues, permitting timelines, and supply chain volatility collide with aggressive customer SLAs, how can teams move faster without creating tomorrow’s reliability problem?
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11:30 AM 12:45 PM |
Lunch & Networking Break
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12:45 PM 1:25 PM |
Capital at Work: How Investors Underwrite Today’s Data Center Pipelines
Record capital is chasing digital infrastructure, but underwriting is evolving as investors digest AI’s growth, rising build costs, and mounting policy and resource risks. Leading capital providers are refining views on tenant mix, power constraints, and exit options, and experimenting with new JV models, platform plays, and structured finance tools. With so much money in motion and so many variables in flux, how are investors deciding which pipelines deserve long-term conviction?
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1:25 PM 2:05 PM |
Megawatts Matter: Power Strategies for the Next Wave of Compute
Power has moved from a checkbox to the central strategic question for data center growth, especially as AI drives dense, power-hungry deployments. Operators and utilities are exploring new interconnection approaches, grid services, long-term PPAs, on-site generation, and storage to secure capacity and manage cost and carbon. With forecasts of surging demand colliding with aging grid infrastructure and public concern, what power strategies will actually work at scale?
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2:05 PM 2:25 PM |
Networking Break
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2:25 PM 3:05 PM |
Smarter Operations: Operating High-Performing Facilities in Dynamic Markets
Operating teams now contend with higher densities, stricter ESG expectations, and more volatile weather and grid conditions than ever before. In response, operators are deploying AI-enabled DCIM, predictive maintenance, and real-time ESG analytics to improve reliability, efficiency, and transparency across portfolios. As complexity grows, how can organizations build the people, processes, and platforms needed to keep facilities resilient while meeting new performance and disclosure standards?
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3:05 PM 3:45 PM |
From Model to Megawatt: Using Digital Tools to Streamline Design and Delivery
Design and construction teams are under pressure to deliver more capacity, faster, with fewer surprises between concept and commissioning. Digital twins, advanced BIM workflows, and field analytics are being used to connect models to real-world performance, improve coordination, and make designs more repeatable and modular. As projects scale in size and complexity, how far can digital tools go in shrinking timelines and risk—and where are the current limits?
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3:45 PM 4:45 PM |
Closing Remarks & Post-Event Networking
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