Nilesh Shah has spent his career following the interesting problems, from chip packaging at Intel to the fast-moving world of neoclouds and AI infrastructure. Recorded at YOTTA in Las Vegas, we get into what makes a neocloud different, why AI has turned liquid cooling into a must-have, how Hosted.AI connects compute with demand, and what it really takes to optimize the stack from dirt to tokens. We also make room for token factories, orbital data centers and a few avocados that never fulfilled their potential.

Chapters:

00:00 From baker jokes to Intel chip packaging

02:05 How memory, storage and silicon led to AI infrastructure

05:14 Following the future and learning to fail fast

07:53 Curiosity, focus and the shiny-object problem

09:55 Family, GPUs and discovering technology for yourself

11:47 The “not a polite roundtable” at YOTTA

13:18 What is a neocloud?

16:11 How AI workloads changed compute requirements

18:18 Why transformer models need interconnected GPUs

19:07 Density, networking and the shift to liquid cooling

23:01 Not all neoclouds are created equal

23:47 Three ways neoclouds deliver AI compute

27:31 Dirt to tokens: the full AI infrastructure stack

31:11 Optimizing tokens, GPUs, racks and power in real time

35:15 Where neoclouds compete and differentiate

40:17 Hardware, software and financing shape the market

42:36 How neocloud contracts and offtake models differ

49:23 How much resiliency does AI really need?

53:04 Can high-density AI ever operate without UPS?

57:28 Why telemetry could make compute bankable

59:07 Agent-to-agent AI, humanoids and orbital compute

01:02:28 The scarce resource may be permission to build

01:04:08 When AI agents run the household

01:06:48 What comes next

Links:

Nilesh Shah on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nilesh-n-shah

AI: https://hosted.ai/

YOTTA: https://www.yotta-event.com/

QTS Data Centers: https://q.com/

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Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell never planned to run City Hall. Now she’s making the case that Cedar Rapids spent decades preparing for its next chapter. We get into data centers, water and power questions, jobs, property-tax relief, why relationships matter, and the kitten who briefly joined the conversation.

Chapters:

00:00 Why a pilot, media personality and entrepreneur ran for mayor

02:45 What people really want from local leadership

03:20 Building a city her children might come home to

05:03 Data centers, public debate and the leadership gap

07:08 Why Iowa and Cedar Rapids fit hyperscale infrastructure

10:07 From skepticism to facts: what communities should evaluate

12:03 Water, power and the deeper debate about AI

13:16 Property-tax relief and the economic-development case

16:25 When facts no longer change the conversation

17:50 Data sovereignty and where digital life actually lives

20:42 “Why not us?” Cedar Rapids prepared for this moment

23:00 Not every data center is a hyperscale campus

26:27 What other mayors are asking about data centers

28:19 Meet Lewis, the mayor’s very vocal kitten

29:16 Trust, direct access and choosing long-term partners

35:55 How Cedar Rapids keeps its identity while it grows

38:33 How companies earn trust: be present and build relationships

39:43 Sicilian meatballs, a Delta 88 and the Cutting Crew

43:20 The takeaway: leadership is hard, and it matters

Links:

Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell — official City of Cedar Rapids mayor page: https://www.cedar-rapids.org/local_government/city_council/mayor_and_city_council/mayor.php

City of Cedar Rapids: https://www.cedar-rapids.org/

QTS Cedar Rapids campus: https://q.com/data-centers/cedar-rapids/

Thank you for visiting our channel, be sure to Like, Comment, and Subscribe! For more information, go to https://www.QTSDataCenters.com

Learn More about QTS Data Centers on the QTS YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/users/qtsdatacenters

Think you have a great topic for a podcast or would like to schedule an interview with Dave? Send in your requests to podcast@qtsdatacenters.com

Mark Gusakov is back, and told me about a town hall where the EMS guy fighting the data center didn't know it answers his 911 calls. Mark’s answer isn’t a better argument. It’s listening first, and he’s got a Lamborghini story to prove it.

Chapters:

00:00:06 Mark's road back: Uptime, nine months around the world, and founding the Digital Infrastructure Alliance

00:05:42 CONN3CT DATA, Cristo Rey students, and a Miss America who is a nuclear engineer

00:08:18 Why data centers are suddenly in the public conversation

00:10:19 Listen, talk, understand: why the pushback is appropriate

00:13:18 Is fear fair when the facts are wrong? The rake story

00:18:03 Lamborghinis for dirt-road folks: find out what a community needs

00:20:30 Amateur hour, not malice: when it stopped being engineer to engineer

00:25:42 The EMS worker who didn't know a data center answers 911

00:30:11 SWAT in the data center, “please come with your concern,” and being understood

00:33:29 Skeptics, cynics, and Ken at the town hall

00:38:02 Who wins the AI race? The town that asks you to come back

00:44:34 “It's just no”: John Dutton, the Amish, and Mr. Ford's softer seats

00:53:50 Ego, mentors, and the pushback inside the industry

01:01:08 Forcing functions, PUE, and why the lava is soft again

01:06:54 Two concrete actions, and “We are not the enemy”

Links:

• Mark Gusakov on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-gusakov-a5b4741/
• The Digital Infrastructure Alliance: https://www.thedigitalinfrastructurealliance.com
• CONN3CT DATA event series: https://conn3ctdataevents.com
• Kirk Busch, Arizona Data Center Alliance: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirkbusch/
• Brian Smith, Idaho National Laboratory: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-smith-65469121/
• Grace Vanderhei, Miss America 2023: https://www.gracevanderhei.com
• Infrastructure Masons: https://imasons.org
• QTS Community Commitments: https://q.com/commitments

Thank you for visiting our channel, be sure to Like, Comment, and Subscribe!

For more information, go to https://www.QTSDataCenters.com

Learn More about QTS Data Centers on the QTS YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/users/qtsdatacenters

Think you have a great topic for a podcast or would like to schedule an interview with Dave? Send in your requests to podcast@qtsdatacenters.com