ZincFive^® has closed out 2025 with major industry recognition, earning top honors in the 2025 Power Technology Excellence Awards across four categories: Innovation, Product Launch, Safety, and Environmental Excellence. Powered by GlobalData’s business intelligence, the awards celebrate companies pushing the global power sector forward, and this year’s results underscore ZincFive’s accelerating leadership.

The wins reflect the company’s momentum as demand for high-power, low-impact energy storage solutions continues to intensify. With nearly 2 gigawatts of nickel-zinc (NiZn) systems deployed or contracted worldwide, ZincFive is helping operators meet the explosive requirements of AI-driven data centers while strengthening resilience and reducing environmental impact.

At the center of this progress is ZincFive’s Immediate Power Solutions portfolio, which blends patented NiZn chemistry with intelligent system-level engineering. These systems deliver millisecond-level responsiveness to dynamic loads and operate reliably at higher temperatures, reducing cooling requirements and improving overall efficiency. The award-winning BC 2 AI UPS Battery Cabinet extends this approach even further, providing fast-load support for GPU-intensive AI applications and traditional outage protection in a single compact system. By consolidating functions that once required multiple layers of equipment, it frees valuable white space and simplifies power architecture.

ZincFive’s wins also reinforce the company’s long-standing commitment to safety and sustainability. NiZn technology is inherently safe, built from abundant, recyclable materials and provides lifetime greenhouse gas emissions that are 25 to 50 percent lower than traditional lead-acid and lithium-ion options. This aligns with growing industry expectations for cleaner, more responsible power infrastructure.

These latest honors join a growing list of accolades, including recent recognition on TIME’s 2025 World’s and America’s Top GreenTech Companies lists, the 2024 Edison Award™, CleanTech Breakthrough’s 2024 Overall Innovation of the Year, and more, signaling a defining moment for ZincFive as it continues to set new benchmarks in mission-critical power.

To learn more, reach the full release here.

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As artificial intelligence accelerates across global data centers, conversations often focus on compute, power density, and next-generation infrastructure. But according to Nabeel Mahmood, Strategic Advisor at ZincFive and Brandon Smith, Vice President of Global Sales and Product at ZincFive, the most crucial element of AI scalability isn’t hardware. It’s people.

Moderated by Ilissa Miller, CEO of iMiller Public Relations, this webinar uncovered why the AI workforce, not compute, is the true limitation and what must change for sustainable growth.

People Are the Real Bottleneck in AI Scalability

Mahmood explained that scaling AI isn’t just a matter of adding more servers or GPUs. It requires practitioners who understand data pipelines, model governance, operational resiliency, and infrastructure design. Without skilled talent, organizations face operational risks despite abundant compute. Smith highlighted that AI and machine learning job postings have increased significantly, noting a recent figure showing a 450 percent rise, far outpacing available expertise.

Technical Silos Are Creating a New Skills Crisis

The discussion emphasized a growing gap across disciplines. Electrical, mechanical, IT, and data science teams frequently operate in isolation despite the interdependent nature of modern AI data centers. This fragmentation leads to delays, inefficiencies, and architectures unable to handle today’s dynamic workloads. Smith described the shift from traditional “white space versus black space” to today’s “blended gray space”, where cross-functional knowledge is essential. Mahmood added that the inability to transfer knowledge horizontally and vertically across teams is a major obstacle to scaling AI systems.

Energy Innovation Is Essential for AI Expansion

AI’s spiking, unpredictable workloads challenge a grid that was never designed for ultra-dense compute. Mahmood and Smith both pointed to advanced energy storage solutions, including ZincFive’s high-power nickel-zinc technology, as the key to unlocking performance. These innovations smooth electrical spikes, maximize usable capacity, and support emerging off-grid compute models that reduce dependence on constrained utilities.

Preparing the Future AI Workforce

Both speakers agreed that organizations must treat talent as core infrastructure. That means forecasting future skills, investing in upskilling programs, partnering with universities, and fostering environments where engineers can innovate across disciplines. As Smith noted, the strongest teams of tomorrow will be adaptive, coachable, and ready to evolve alongside rapidly changing AI infrastructure demands.

Watch the webinar below:

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As AI adoption accelerates worldwide, power infrastructure has become one of the biggest constraints for data center growth. ZincFive, a global leader in nickel-zinc (NiZn) battery technologies, has taken a major step in meeting this challenge with the close of an oversubscribed $30 million Series F funding round. The investment brings total capital raised to $254 million since 2016 and will enable rapid expansion in manufacturing and commercial scale.

Backed by leading climate and industrial investors including Helios Climate Ventures, Climate Investment (CI), Japan Energy Fund, General Ventures, and Clear Creek Investments, ZincFive has already deployed or contracted nearly 2 GW of nickel-zinc backup cabinets across the global data center sector. This milestone reflects both the maturity of its technology and the confidence of hyperscalers and operators seeking safe, sustainable power alternatives.

The funding announcement follows the launch of BC 2 AI, the first nickel-zinc UPS battery cabinet engineered for AI-driven data centers and their dynamic power requirements. With zero thermal-runaway risk, AI load support, and a 96 percent recyclable design, BC 2 AI demonstrates ZincFive’s commitment to continuous improvement from core chemistry to full system architecture.

A Sustainable, Proven Alternative

ZincFive’s patented NiZn chemistry provides high power density, inherent safety, minimal maintenance requirements, and an industry-leading environmental footprint compared to lithium-ion and lead-acid systems. With nearly a decade of proven field performance and expanding OEM partnerships, ZincFive continues to advance its role in next-generation, AI-ready power architectures.

With AI infrastructure driving one of the largest build cycles in modern history, ZincFive’s Series F funding marks a pivotal moment. The company is now positioned to scale production, deepen its commercial reach, and power the safe, sustainable data center ecosystems required for the AI era.

To read the full press release, visit here.

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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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