Beyond the Cloud: The Future of Data Centers
From Cache Me If You Can by Center for Strategic and International Studies
February 18, 2026 · 37 min
About this episode
This episode explores the critical role of data centers in the digital economy and their implications for energy, governance, and local communities.
In this episode of Cache Me if You Can, we go beneath the cloud to examine the physical infrastructure powering today’s digital economy: data centers. As demand for cloud services, AI workloads, and high-performance computing accelerates, data centers have become critical national assets—while also emerging as flashpoints for debates over energy use, land, labor, and local governance. Our guest, Chris Kimm, former Senior Vice President at Equinix, brings decades of experience operating and scaling global data center infrastructure at the intersection of technology, customers, and public policy. Drawing on his leadership across data center operations in the Americas and global customer service teams, as well as his time chairing the Data Center Coalition’s Board of Directors, Chris helps unpack how modern data centers work, how they’ve evolved, and why misconceptions about their impact persist. We discuss what actually happens inside a data center, how facilities differ from hyperscale to edge deployments, where innovation is happening most rapidly, and how the industry is responding to mounting energy and sustainability challenges. The conversation also explores why regions like…
People in this episode
Guest: Chris Kimm
Topics covered
- data centers
- cloud services
- AI workloads
- energy use
- sustainability
- public policy
Keywords
- data centers
- cloud infrastructure
- AI
- energy challenges
- sustainability
- public policy
- local governance
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Equinix, Data Center Coalition
Places: Northern Virginia
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