Infrastructure at a turning point: five forecasts
In 2026, the successful companies will be those that view infrastructure not just as a cost factor, but as a strategic asset. Energy supply, resilience, sovereignty and sustainability are no longer just background issues, but are at the forefront of every company's mind in one form or another, believes Bruce Owen, President, EMEA, at Equinix.
Over the past year, the global perception of data centers has changed. Data centers, especially colocation data centers, are no longer just providers of space, but indispensable enablers and strategic partners that ensure the continuous flow of data and energy to keep the world functioning. However, the biggest challenges for technology in 2026 will not be in the cloud or in code, but in the physical structures that support businesses and the economy.
Against this backdrop, there are five trends that will emerge over the coming year, according to Bruce Owen, President, EMEA, of data center operator Equinix:
1. in order to exploit the potential of AI in the financial sector, the problem of power density must first be solved
«In 2026, the promise of AI in financial services is no longer just a vision. But without the right infrastructure, even the most advanced models will be ineffective. The industry's ability to cleanse and structure vast amounts of historical financial data depends on high-performance computing environments that can support modern GPU workloads. Financial firms must now prioritize power density and infrastructure modernization - not as a vision for the future, but as a necessity to ensure AI realizes its potential and delivers meaningful outcomes for their clients.»
2. resilience is the new basic requirement in a digitalized world
«Colocation data centers like Equinix's play a central role in connectivity, providing the resiliency and redundancy that help businesses minimize issues that could impact the service their customers expect. As digital infrastructure becomes increasingly important to businesses, the rules and regulations are changing to ensure that this infrastructure is robust and reliable. In 2026, we need to show that resilience is the foundation, not the maximum, and that it is the only way to protect a brand's reputation in a fast-moving, digitized economy.»
3. sovereign data requires a global ecosystem
«Equinix is helping to overcome data sharing limitations. Through our global platform and interconnection capabilities, we help organizations in areas such as healthcare and life sciences build in-country infrastructure so they can access and process sensitive data locally. This protects global research activities while ensuring compliance with data sovereignty laws. In practice, this networking of computing environments significantly shortens the time it takes pharmaceutical and biotech companies to develop new drugs. What used to take 10 to 14 years and billions of dollars can now be shortened by months or even years. The successful strategy for 2026 will be a robust hybrid model that enables global data learning while preserving local data sovereignty. The integrity of these global-local data ecosystems can make the difference between a new cure and a delayed project.»
4. the next wave of AI is agent-based
«At Equinix, we believe the next big wave will be agent-based AI - intelligence that is able to take real action, not just generate and mimic content. This shift will rapidly drive conversational inference and move workloads from huge centralized clusters to real-time models closer to the point of use.
Here, the change is directly linked to the AI knowledge gap, on which we recently published a study have commissioned: We know that the public has trust in AI, but few people are aware of how often they use AI in their everyday lives. Closing this gap is important. Because only when people understand how AI is already being used can we as a society truly begin to explore the many ways it can be harnessed for innovation and progress, and what it takes to make that happen.
Looking to the future, quantum computing will be the next step after AI if we can realize its full potential. This new technology is attracting significant public and private investment, with quantum AI companies ranging from those still in the research phase and conducting tests with end users to those already looking to scale.»
5 Europe's leadership role will be defined by sustainability
«For European customers, we not only need to meet efficiency standards, but also provide concrete roadmaps that enable management to achieve their own ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) goals. Equinix's ability to talk about energy efficiency is not just an environmental message but a strategic tool to secure European business and this will continue to be a priority in 2026.»
Source: Equinix
