Capacity Europe returns to the InterContinental London, The O2, from 13 to 15 October, with pre-event activities on 12 October, bringing together more than 4,000 decision makers from fibre, data centres, cloud and AI infrastructure.
The 25th edition comes at a moment of strain for the sector. Community opposition is stalling projects on both sides of the Atlantic. A flagship US AI campus has become a test case for contract risk. Hyperscalers are pushing subsea capacity to new records while governments worry about who protects it. Across three stages and several summits, five questions run through the programme.
Who actually makes money from AI networks?
The Market Forces stage opens with a direct challenge. In her opening keynote, Colt CEO Keri Gilder will examine what it means for digital infrastructure as AI agents drive a shift in which machines generate more network activity than humans.
The keynote panel that follows, “Execution Matters: How to turn AI ambition into real returns”, brings together Orange Wholesale International CEO Valerie Cussac, STC’s Mohammed Al-Abbadi, T Wholesale’s Dimitrios Rizoulis, Vodafone’s Fanan Henriques and Sparkle CEO Enrico Bagnasco. The panel will address revenue opportunities, board priorities and constraints around capex and regulation.
The question returns in the afternoon. In “Beyond Infrastructure: Who Really Monetises AI?”, AWS and NVIDIA speakers will debate where AI sits in the service stack and which models customers will actually pay for. For carriers, the answer will decide whether the AI boom lifts margins or simply lifts traffic.
Can Europe build fast enough without a US-style backlash?
The US offers a warning. Local opposition blocked 45 data centre projects worth $68 billion in the second quarter of 2026. In Texas, governor Greg Abbott has ordered the state’s environmental regulator to stop issuing data centre permits until ERCOT completes its audit. BloombergNEF estimates the pause puts nearly 50GW of proposed capacity at risk, close to a fifth of the US pipeline.
Europe is not immune, but the pressure works differently. As Capacity reported in its analysis of why data centre resistance looks so different by country, more than $42 billion of proposed European projects have been delayed, reworked or cancelled over public concern, largely through institutional channels. Scotland’s ministers now review every data centre application above 50MW.
Two AI Build stage sessions take on the constraints directly. “From Grid Constraint to Competitive Growth” features National Grid’s David Adkins and Verne CEO Dominic Ward. “Licence to Operate”, with speakers from Telehouse, Ark Datacentres, Khazna and Greenscale, asks who should lead on fixing approvals and aligning communities. The new Community & Data Centres Forum will also publish its outputs as a post-event document.
Is Europe creating its own fibre bottleneck?
AI demand is reshaping where fibre is needed. The keynote panel “Wiring the AI Boom” brings together euNetworks CEO Marisa Trisolino, EXA Infrastructure CEO Jim Fagan, Retelit CEO Jorge Alvarez and Verizon president Jeff Hulse to discuss fast-track corridor builds and dark fibre strategy. On the Fibre Investment stage, a panel titled “No Fibre, No AI” asks whether Europe’s core fibre is lagging demand from data centres and AI clusters.
The concern is not new. Colt’s Joe Scattareggia has warned of a coming transatlantic capacity crunch, estimating Europe has around two years to prepare its networks, as Capacity reported in What’s actually driving fibre consolidation in 2026?.
Consolidation is the other half of the story. Deutsche Telekom has agreed to acquire Polish broadband provider INEA and wholesale sister company Fiberhost for around €1 billion. Nexfibre CEO Rajiv Datta and CVC DIF’s Simon Rosas will discuss which strategies deliver scale in “Scaling or Selling”, while a Financial Times-chaired panel reassesses what European fibre assets are really worth.
Who protects, and who owns, the cables Europe can’t lose?
Subsea security has moved from niche to boardroom concern. Reuters reported this month that NATO allies disrupted a Russian subsea sabotage plot, citing at least 11 cables damaged or cut in the Baltic between October 2023 and the end of last year. In February the European Commission launched a €347 million subsea infrastructure initiative alongside a Cable Security Toolbox.
The new Global Critical Infrastructure Summit opens with Laurie Walker, who leads NATO’s Critical Undersea Infrastructure Coordination Cell. On the Market Forces stage, the “Chokepoints & Shockwaves” panel brings in Meta, SEACOM and Midgard Infra, and a roundtable asks directly whether hyperscalers or homegrown operators should control Europe’s critical cables.
That ownership question has sharpened. Meta last week announced Petal, a France to US cable of about 7,000km that will be the first to carry petabit capacity across an ocean, with service expected in 2029 and Orange supporting the French landing. For background, see Capacity’s six European submarine cables to watch in 2026 and State of the Sector: Subsea.
Is the capital still confident?
The week before the event brought a reminder of how exposed AI builds are to delivery risk. Oracle sent a force majeure notice to the developer of Project Jupiter, its Stargate campus in New Mexico. The notice would let it defer payments if the site misses its 2028 target. The gas pipeline meant to power the 2.45GW campus has slipped by nearly six months to February 2027 after repeated permit denials. Oracle said “Project Jupiter remains on our planned schedule”.
The pressure is broader than one project. Lenders have begun treating community opposition as a formal credit risk, and CoreWeave’s total debt reached $35bn at the end of June, as Capacity has covered in its reporting on the neocloud refinancing wall and circular financing.
The AI Build stage’s second day opens with a keynote on who funds Europe’s AI infrastructure. It is followed by “Capital at Risk”, with Kao Data CEO David Bloom, DigitalBridge’s Zach Gellman and speakers from Guggenheim, BGO Data Centers and Echelon. The Digital Infrastructure Finance & Investment Summit goes further, with Fitch Ratings chief economist Brian Coulton, Macquarie, the Qatar Investment Authority and Ares Management. Its sessions cover matching 20-year debt with 10-year data centre contracts and the nervousness created by recent LLM IPOs.
Capacity will report live from London throughout the event. Passes booked before midnight on Friday 9 October avoid a £300 late booking fee.
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Capacity Europe 2026
The 25th anniversary edition of Capacity Europe 2025 will bring together 3,500+ decision-makers from the global connectivity and digital infrastructure community.
