At the Digital Infra Leaders’ Summit, industry titans reached an unusually blunt conclusion: the data centre sector has a brand problem it cannot solve alone. The proposal that emerged, a formal industry consortium modelled on oil and gas lobbying, may prove to be the most commercially consequential idea debated at Cannes this year.

The data centre industry has spent the past three years absorbing unprecedented capital, navigating supply chain disruption, and racing to meet AI-driven demand. What it has not done, with any coherence, is explain itself to the public. That failure is now showing up in project timelines.