09/10/2026
A great Forbes piece explains why even traditional data-center landlords are being challenged by private developers and tech companies willing to take bigger capital risks.
A vacant industrial building is not automatically an AI opportunity.
The sites that matter most have the right combination of:
⚡ Serious power capacity
🌐 Fiber connectivity
📍 The right location
🏗️ Space and approvals for major infrastructure
AI needs enormous data centers to train models—but it also needs fast, connected facilities closer to the people and businesses using those models.
So the opportunity is not simply “own a building.”
It is: **own or control a site that can deliver the power, connectivity, and scale AI requires.**
That is where the real estate value is shifting.
So it is not “data centers are a bad real-estate play.” It is: the AI gold rush rewards the developer or owner who can deliver power and take big capital risk, not simply the landlord with square footage.
[Read it here](https://www.forbes.com/sites/phoebeliu/2026/01/15/the-ai-data-center-equinix-digital-realty-gold-rush-leaving-landlords-behind/)
The mainstreaming of AI is turning into a trillion dollar business, yet the two biggest data center real estate firms have lagged in public markets. Here’s why—and how they could catch up: https://www.forbes.com/sites/phoebeliu/2026/01/15/the-ai-data-center-equinix-digital-realty-gold-rush-leaving-landlords-behind/?utm_campaign=ForbesMainFB&utm_source=ForbesMainFacebook&utm_medium=social
📸: Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for The Washington Post via Getty Images
