Artificial intelligence data centers are becoming more powerful and densely configured. As a result, the infrastructure supporting them needs to evolve just as quickly.

As rack densities rise, power distribution, cooling, containment and cable pathways can no longer be treated as separate entities that come together at the final stages of data center deployment.

This is the view of Sinead Lalor, director of sales engineering at Tate, which delivers integrated infrastructure solutions for high-density data centers, bringing together design, manufacturing, preintegration and delivery.

To maximize speed and efficiency, they need to be coordinated early, integrated deliberately and delivered in a way that reduces the amount of complex work left to do on-site, she said.

“Electrical integration is becoming one of the most important opportunities to improve deployment speed in AI data centers,” Lalor said. “When all the necessary elements are coordinated early and more work is completed off-site, developers can simplify field installation and create a more predictable path to commissioning.”

As AI accelerates demand for higher-performance data centers, developers have an opportunity to rethink how infrastructure is designed, coordinated and delivered, Lalor said.

Rising power requirements are changing how data hall infrastructure needs to be planned. Data centers’ demands on the U.S. power grid are expected to more than double between 2025 and 2027 to reach 66 GW.

As power densities increase, busway capacity, telecom cable systems and overhead support requirements are also evolving, making early coordination an important part of designing high-performance AI environments.

Telecom cable tray design loads have increased from a typical 50 pounds per linear foot to 70, Lalor said, with heavier busway systems adding further structural demand. By addressing these requirements earlier in the design process, teams can better align structural support, power distribution and installation sequencing.

Another factor to consider is cooling. As more data centers combine liquid- and air-cooling strategies, infrastructure must be planned as a connected system from the start, Lalor said.

“When you bring in liquid cooling, you bring in manifolds and higher electrical loads to handle the heat generated by increased rack densities,” she said. “Coordinating these systems earlier gives developers a clearer path to manage complexity and improve deployment outcomes.”

Lalor described how Tate defines this as converged infrastructure, an approach that coordinates power, cooling, containment and network pathways as part of a connected data hall system.

Through preintegrated systems, Tate brings these elements together before they arrive at the data center, helping customers simplify deployment, improve coordination and build with greater confidence, she said.

“A converged approach also gives project teams a more coordinated procurement and execution model,” Lalor said. “By bringing key data hall infrastructure elements together through a single integrated solution, Tate can align requirements earlier, simplify purchasing decisions and support more predictable project delivery at scale.”

Integrated delivery models also help project teams shift more work into controlled manufacturing environments, where electrical integration can be coordinated, assembled and checked before arrival on-site.

This can include busways and tap-off boxes, whips, cable tray routing and factory-level validation, helping to simplify field installation and support more efficient project sequencing, Lalor said.

“Carrying this out off-site saves considerable labor on-site, reduces working at height and supports faster commissioning,” she said. “Components can be coordinated earlier, integration can be validated before arrival on-site, and teams can reduce the number of variables that typically affect field installation.”

Tate’s PowerStack solution is an example of what this new integration model looks like in practice, Lalor said. As a prefabricated, electrically integrated containment solution, it brings together power, cooling, containment and network pathways in one unified system designed for AI-ready data centers.

“PowerStack combines repeatable engineering discipline with the flexibility customers need for project-specific requirements,” she said. “It gives developers a coordinated infrastructure approach that can simplify execution, support faster installation and still be tailored to the needs of each data center.”

Such systems are most effective in shortening the time it takes to get a data center up and running when a customer engages the infrastructure provider early in discussions, Lalor said.

Rather than waiting until the data hall design is largely complete and then selecting products, Tate supports conversations around power topology, customer-specified components, testing requirements and installation scope.

“Earlier collaboration makes a big difference to efficiency and speed,” she said. “When discussions around power, cooling and infrastructure happen early in the process, teams can make more informed decisions about design, sequencing and deployment strategy.”

As the fast pace of data center development continues, Lalor said the construction industry will continue to move away from fragmented, component-by-component delivery and toward systems that are engineered, coordinated and validated earlier.

Tate is already seeing this with successful projects. She described how one client brought Tate in at the earliest stages of the project, allowing the team to influence the system architecture rather than simply respond to a predefined specification.

By collaborating alongside the customer, design partners and installation teams from the outset, Tate developed a solution that balanced performance, manufacturability and constructability.

The result was a standardized, repeatable design that could be efficiently manufactured at scale, installed quickly on-site with fewer coordination challenges, and readily adapted across future deployments while still meeting the customer’s specific technical requirements, she said.

“There’s a significant opportunity to combine repeatable, proven design principles with bespoke solutions that reflect each customer’s technical requirements,” Lalor said. “PowerStack is an example of how prefabricated, integrated infrastructure can help developers move faster while still preserving the flexibility needed to meet the pace and complexity of AI growth.”

This article was produced in collaboration between Tate and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.