At the PowerEx Live DCA 10×10 Briefing event held on 11 December 2025 in London, Craig Doyle, EMEA Senior Director of Sales for Wesco Anixter Data Centre Solutions, presented a compelling overview of the rapidly evolving power and infrastructure challenges facing data centres in the age of AI. With decades of experience across data centre and telecommunications ecosystems, Doyle highlighted how surging demand for compute capacity is reshaping the way developers plan, build, and scale missioncritical facilities.
One of the most pressing issues he identified is the global scarcity of power availability. Data centre operators increasingly secure land and initiate construction only to encounter significant delays in securing grid connections. This misalignment between development speed and utility readiness is driving innovative alternatives, such as natural gaspowered generation to bridge the supply gap. In other cases, companies are
strategically moving new builds to regions with more abundant available power. These shifts place a renewed emphasis on robust medium voltage systems—whether owned by utilities or by the data centre operators themselves—to ensure resiliency, reliability, and future scalability.
As facilities now routinely scale beyond 100 MW, he highlighted the role of streamlined procurement and strategic inventory planning in supporting aggressive deployment schedules. Speed and safety were also recurring themes throughout the presentation. Doyle pointed to innovations such as enhanced cable support systems and reusable cable ties that are engineered to handle delicate fibre infrastructure while accelerating installation. These technologies, paired with expert logistics coordination, help contractors avoid delays, reduce labour risk, and keep project timelines intact.
Supply chain predictability remains another major challenge the industry faces. Doyle advocated strongly for early engagement with suppliers, noting that proactive collaboration allows developers to secure critical components earlier in the project lifecycle. By maintaining inventory readiness and reducing lastminute surprises on site, data centre teams can avoid costly schedule disruptions.
Wesco Anixter has shown a strong commitment to enabling efficiency through innovation. From errorproofing lugs to protective cable glands, their solutions ecosystem is designed to support the pace and precision demanded by modern hyperscale, MTDC, and colocation environments. Doyle emphasised that in today’s data centre market, “speed is the currency,” and strong partnerships are essential to delivering AI-ready infrastructure on time and at scale.
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Craig Doyle
Senior Director, WESCO Datacentre Solutions EMEA, Wesco Anixter