In the first episode of a new special series recorded live at The Xcelerated Compute Show 2026 at the Business Design Centre in London, Andy Davis is joined once again by co-host Rory Flashman from Spa Communications to explore the rapidly evolving AI infrastructure market, with a particular focus on the UK and Europe.
Joining the conversation:
Dr. Manesh Patel, Head of Data Center Development, Radiant
Michael Beagan, Managing Director, TES Power
Together, they discuss where Europe can compete in the global race to build AI infrastructure, from its engineering and manufacturing expertise to the opportunities presented by brownfield industrial sites, transferable skills and new approaches to data centre construction.
Manesh explores how the requirements of AI infrastructure are changing traditional site selection. As suitable land and available grid connections become harder to secure, existing industrial buildings and powered brownfield sites are becoming increasingly attractive. The conversation looks at the potential of “box within a box” developments, where existing structures can be repurposed to accelerate deployment and reduce planning requirements.
Michael also discusses the shift from constructing data centres almost entirely on site towards manufacturing more of the infrastructure off site. With speed now becoming one of the first questions customers ask, modularisation, prefabrication and greater supply chain integration are increasingly important to delivering capacity at scale.
The discussion then turns to people. From Northern Ireland’s engineering and manufacturing heritage to apprenticeships, transferable skills and the UK’s AI Growth Zones, the guests explore how the industry can develop the workforce required to support the next generation of compute infrastructure.
Finally, the conversation looks ahead to rising rack densities, changing power architectures and the technical challenges created by pushing significantly more power into increasingly dense AI environments.
Recorded live at The Xcelerated Compute Show 2026 in London.
Key Topics:
- Europe’s advantages in the global AI infrastructure market
- Brownfield sites and the changing approach to data centre development
- Off-site manufacturing, modularisation and faster deployment
- Northern Ireland’s role in data centre power infrastructure
- Apprenticeships, transferable skills and the industry’s talent challenge
- AI Growth Zones and the UK’s ability to scale
- Rising rack densities and changing power requirements
- Why supply chain collaboration will be critical to future growth
Tune in for a wide-ranging conversation on what Europe needs to compete in AI infrastructure, why speed, skills and power are becoming increasingly interconnected, and how new approaches to development and manufacturing could help the UK and wider European market scale for the AI era.
This show is brought to you by DataX and DataExec, the recruitment partners powering global talent across the data centre and digital infrastructure world.
To learn more about Andy Davis and the rest of the DataX team, click here: DataX Connect
