Two sessions at Datacloud Global Congress 2026 mapped the emerging fault lines in delivery strategy for a sector that needs to build faster, larger, and in more constrained locations than it ever has before. The conclusion was not that modular is always better, or that vertical is the answer, but that the industry is deploying both without sufficient clarity about when each approach actually works.

The data centre development pipeline faces a set of intersecting pressures that are, taken together, unprecedented. Hyperscaler demand is pushing campus sizes into the hundreds of megawatts. Urban land scarcity in key markets is forcing development upward.