Capacity Europe 2025: Collaboration, Connectivity, and the Cloud-AI Convergence

The 24th edition of Capacity Europe, held October 21–23, 2025 at the InterContinental London – The O2, brought together more than 3,000 global leaders across the connectivity, cloud, data center, and digital infrastructure ecosystem. Over three impactful days, the event served as Europe’s largest platform for carriers, hyperscalers, data center operators, investors, and technology providers to exchange ideas and forge partnerships shaping the future of global connectivity.

Discussions throughout the event centered on the convergence of network and cloud infrastructure, the accelerating impact of artificial intelligence (AI), and the race to deliver sustainable, scalable capacity. The agenda featured over 150 speakers from organizations including Google Cloud, DE-CIX, Colt Technology, Equinix, NTT DATA, DigitalBridge, and EXA Infrastructure.

Highlighted speakers included Lex Coors, President, EUDCA & Chief Datacenter Technology & Engineering Officer at Digital Realty, and Vladimir Prodanovic, Principal Program Manager at NVIDIA, who both shared insights during the panel “Build Today or Buy Forever: The Role of European Data Centres in Facilitating the AI Explosion.” Tony Rossabi, Founder & Managing Member of Ocolo, and Phillip Marangella, Chief Marketing & Product Officer at EdgeConneX, joined the session “Chasing Power: How to Meet Future Requirements,” addressing one of the industry’s most urgent challenges, access to reliable, sustainable energy for large-scale deployments.

AI at the Core of Infrastructure Growth

AI dominated the conversation from the main stage to private meeting rooms. From hyperscalers to regional fiber providers, leaders agreed that the next era of infrastructure growth will be defined by low-latency, high-capacity ecosystems designed for AI inference and training workloads. European operators are expanding into new metros, while investors are targeting secondary markets where power and land remain available. The consensus: AI is redefining the scale, speed, and sophistication of digital infrastructure build-outs.

Power, Sustainability, and Policy

With demand rising faster than grid capacity, power availability emerged as one of Europe’s most pressing constraints. Experts noted that securing new grid connections can take up to ten years in mature markets such as London, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam, prompting developers to pursue renewable PPAs, grid-adjacent campuses, and nuclear partnerships. Sustainability was another focal point, with increasing expectations around embodied-carbon reduction, operational efficiency, and regulatory transparency under the EU’s evolving sustainability framework.

From Competition to Collaboration

Another key theme was the shift from competition to collaboration. The once-distinct worlds of carrier, cloud, and colocation are converging as customers seek end-to-end solutions spanning connectivity, compute, and storage. Panelists and participants emphasized that the future of connectivity depends on strategic partnerships among vendors, technology providers, and investors to create the resilient ecosystems required for AI-era infrastructure.

Capacity Europe 2025 reaffirmed that connectivity, cloud, and colocation are no longer parallel industries, they are interdependent pillars of a unified digital ecosystem. The conversations in London underscored that collaboration, scalability, and sustainability will define Europe’s ability to remain competitive in the global digital economy.

The next opportunity to continue this dialogue will be Capacity Middle East co-located with Datacloud Middle East, taking place March 3–6, 2026 in Dubai, followed by International Telecoms Week (ITW) in Washington, D.C., May 10–13, 2026.

To learn more about upcoming events in the Capacity Media portfolio, visit www.capacitymedia.com/events.

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Interview: Jayne Mansfield, ZincFive, with Nabeel Mahmood, Mahmood

At this year’s Capacity Europe conference in London – the epicenter for conversations shaping the digital infrastructure landscape – one theme cut through every panel and hallway exchange: Europe’s data future must be both powerful and sustainable.

To unpack what that really means for investors, operators, and policymakers, we sat down with technology executive and Top 10 Global Influencer Nabeel Mahmood, who spoke at the event about the region’s evolving data-center ecosystem.

“Demand is exploding across the UK and Europe,” Mahmood told us. “AI, edge compute, high-density GPU workloads, and hyperscale cloud deployments are all converging – and they’re forcing a rethink of what infrastructure looks like.” 

The Shift from Scale to Strategy

Mahmood’s central message was that the market’s priorities are shifting from ‘how much’ capacity to ‘how and where’ it’s built. Across the region, sustainability and energy resilience are no longer nice-to-have checkboxes; they’re becoming the foundation of investment decisions.

“Infrastructure used to be a race for megawatts,” he explained. “Now it’s a race for smarter, greener, and more sustainable megawatts.”

That shift is already visible in the UK, where annual data-center investment is projected to soar from roughly £1.75 billion in 2024 to £10 billion by 2029. While London remains dominant, new projects are spreading beyond the M25 as developers chase available power and faster permitting timelines.

Mahmood pointed out that “the UK’s declaration of data centers as critical national infrastructure is a step in the right direction – it signals recognition that digital infrastructure underpins everything from jobs to national competitiveness.”

Europe’s Tightrope: Power, Land, and Policy

Across continental Europe, the picture is similar but more constrained. The so-called FLAP-D markets – Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Dublin – are nearing record-low vacancy rates, with take-up expected to hit 855 MW in 2025, up 22 % year-on-year.

“Grid capacity and land availability have become the new bottlenecks,” Mahmood said. “Those constraints are pushing investors to look at secondary markets – Milan, Nordic hubs, even parts of Southern Europe – where renewable energy integration and policy agility are improving.”

That migration is reshaping the map of European data infrastructure, with sustainability as the common denominator. Operators are incorporating liquid cooling, renewable sourcing, and battery-microgrid systems into new designs to support increasingly power-hungry AI clusters.

Why Power Chemistry Now Matters

In that context, Mahmood emphasized the critical role of next-generation battery technology – particularly nickel-zinc (Ni-Zn) – as a cornerstone of the sustainable data-center model.

“Battery systems are no longer just backup,” he said. “They’re becoming part of the strategic infrastructure footprint.”

Ni-Zn chemistry, he explained, offers a combination of high power density, safety, and circularity that aligns with Europe’s sustainability mandates. Unlike lithium-ion or lead-acid systems, Ni-Zn avoids thermal-runaway risks, reduces cooling needs, and offers recyclability benefits that fit the EU’s evolving battery-regulation framework.

“For operators, it’s not just an ESG checkbox,” Mahmood added. “It’s about freeing up space, cutting long-term costs, and demonstrating a credible pathway to low-carbon operations.”

A New Definition of Digital Infrastructure

Perhaps Mahmood’s most resonant message at Capacity Europe was philosophical: the way the industry defines “infrastructure” itself must evolve.

“Data centers aren’t just cost centers or tech assets,” he said. “They’re critical national infrastructure – pillars of the modern economy that touch climate policy, energy strategy, and digital sovereignty.”

That redefinition brings a new level of accountability. It means that as Europe scales for AI, cloud, and edge computing, the choices around power, cooling, materials, and footprint will determine not just commercial success but environmental integrity.

The Takeaway

Mahmood closed our conversation with a clear challenge to the industry:

“The digital-infrastructure boom sweeping through Europe must be anchored in responsible, resilient, and sustainable design. Adopting technologies like Ni-Zn isn’t just a technical upgrade – it’s a strategic differentiator. Those who embrace that mindset now will lead the next wave of growth.”

At Capacity Europe, optimism for digital expansion was everywhere – but so was a recognition that the future will belong to those who innovate responsibly. Mahmood’s vision distilled that reality perfectly: the next frontier of infrastructure isn’t just bigger. It’s smarter, greener, and built for permanence.

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Capacity Europe 2025: An Industry Newcomer’s Overview 

Capacity Europe took place from October 21-23, 2025 in London and brought more than 3,600 industry experts together to discuss the future of the telecommunications industry.

Central themes included the growing demand for capacity with the growth of AI and positioning data centers in edge or hub locations. Conversations surrounding the theme of AI were far more common than previous years and discussions about how the industry should best respond underscored all the panels.

The agenda featured many panels such as:

• The AI conundrum: Establishing ‘hubs’ or edge revival?
• Build today or buy forever: the role of European data centers in facilitating the AI explosion
• Chasing power: how to meet future requirements
• The investment outlook for digital infrastructure
• Global Connectivity Trends: A European Perspective
• The Hollow Core Fibre Opportunity: Faster, Further & Deployable Now
• Testing the waters for quantum communications networks
• The rise of Eastern European terrestrial corridors

The conclusion from “The AI conundrum: Establishing ‘hubs’ or edge revival?” panel included insights such as Wes Jensen at Wanaware’s point of understanding that inference happens at the edge while training is done at the hubs, so growing demand will necessitate more infrastructure at both, demanding a strong response from the industry.

The role of European data centers was also a central point for discussion at Capacity Europe 2025. With many panelists believing that Europe has the opportunity to adopt at a level competitive to the US and China, the atmosphere was cautious yet optimistic. Regulatory hurdles and plenty of red tape must first be addressed before data centers in Europe can truly flourish at a level close to the success of the US and China.

Additionally, power was also an important part of the debate. Growing demand has worried nearby communities, and discussion about creating a friendly approach that doesn’t villainize data centers is vital in promoting their adoption across Europe. Panelists concluded that turning that PR around requires a tremendous amount of force, but is still a possible undertaking.

Power availability is limited as many of these proposed plant projects will take substantial time, while a data center project may only take two or three years to complete, the average power plant would take longer. There is an inevitable gap in power availability as data centers race to catch demand faster than power can be supplied.

The conversation in the conference also addressed what Nabeel Mahmood of ZincFive mentioned to be a gray tsunami, a shortfall of young professionals entering the industry while there is a large portion of older professionals retiring. The conclusion was generally that the industry should gain awareness and ride off the publicity of data centers to appeal to students. One such program, “Talent in Digital Infrastructure,” was run at the event with a range of speakers from various backgrounds and topics. Students from both UK universities and sixth forms listened to bring awareness to the fact the industry existed, with many speakers emphasizing that they found their way into telecommunications by accident and weren’t aware that it was even an option.

Capacity Europe not only connected the telecommunications industry from across continents, but also provided important insight about the rapidly changing state of the industry. Moving forward, the success of European telecommunications innovation is in the hands of the many experienced and intelligent industry professionals to deal with the new problems posed by the rapid growth and scaling of artificial intelligence.

If you’re interested in participating in the industry-shaping discussion, you can save the date for Capacity Europe 2026! The event will be from the 13th to 16th of October, at the Intercontinental O2 in London.

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About the Author

Sebastian Cohen is an intern at iMiller Public Relations and student at the University of St. Andrews where he is pursuing a degree in Financial Economics and Management.

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