“One of the ways that this will be done is through natural gas generation, which will very often be in both grid-based gas turbines and on-site gas turbines. We are seeing a lot more interest amongst many data centre operators to work with companies that will integrate CCS technology,” Lawrence said. “The essence of this prediction is that we think it is becoming realistic at scale at some of these sites, and that’s partly because of improving technology, the high cost of alternatives. So, there are things going on in CCS. It is becoming a realistic technology and something that can be deployed at scale at certain sites.”
4. Scale adds new challenges
As data centres grow larger and more concentrated in specific regions, Uptime warns that resiliency risks are also growing.
“Scale, huge data centres, not only the size of individual data centres and campuses, but also the concentration of large data centres in specific geographies, is introducing quite a lot of new risks,” Lawrence said.
Several factors are creating new challenges, according to the report: Aging transmission equipment and increasing shares of intermittent renewable generation are creating conditions for grid instability. Large concentrations mean data centres can affect grid stability. Regulators have taken notice, Uptime notes. Authorities in several countries are working on new grid connection rules that will require data centres to tolerate higher voltage fluctuations and avoid or slow down load disconnection during grid disturbances.
“The key takeaway, or what we see in the next year or two, is that the industry isn’t moving towards full autonomy. It’s actually going to be moving toward supervised, practical automation that will be deployed carefully, scaled gradually, and designed to support operators rather than actually replace them,” said Rand Talib, research analyst at Uptime Institute.
5. AI automation in the data centre moves to production
AI-driven automation within data centres will begin transitioning from experimental pilots to supporting daily operations, Uptime predicts.
“In 2026, data centre operations will begin shifting from experimentation with AI to early, targeted deployments,” Talib said. The automation will focus on reinforcement learning and hybrid digital twins for cooling and power optimization, industrial copilots that help operators with workflows, and smarter rules-based orchestration for automated responses to live sensor data, according to the report.
“The goal in the next year or two is not going to be full autonomy,” Talib said. “It’s going to be more to reduce the manual effort and improve consistency.”
Hyperscalers and large colocation providers will advance more quickly, while most enterprises will progress cautiously through incremental upgrades. According to Uptime Institute, the easier solutions to power constraints have been exhausted, and the rush to support AI is straining grids, supply chains, and traditional approaches to resiliency.
“AI has only recently become the dominant narrative, and most operators are continuing to plan in the face of uncertainty rather than executing on clearly AI-driven demand,” Lawrence said.
This article was originally published on our sister publication Network World.
