Winning the AI Race: The crucial role of digital infrastructure design

AS AI drives continues to disrupt industries across the world, the race is no longer just about smarter models or better data.

- Canninah Dladla, Cluster President for English-speaking Africa at Schneider Electric. The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Independent Media or IOL.

It's about building infrastructure powerful enough to support innovation at scale. Staying competitive therefore demands more than incremental upgrades; it requires a forward-looking strategy built to handle today's intensity and tomorrow's unknowns.Organisations that treat digital infrastructure as a strategic business investment are setting the pace.

And decisions around energy efficiency, improved thermal management, and modular design are directly influencing AI performance, speed to market, operational cost, and ultimately longterm competitiveness.

The strategic imperative

Historically, power and cooling sat firmly in the "necessary expense" category, essential to maintain but rarely viewed as a source of competitive advantage. That reality has changed. Infrastructure now directly affects AI workload performance, deployment timelines, sustainability targets, and overall business value.

The numbers don't lie. In 2025, leading technology companies, including Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft, are projected to invest a record $320 billion in AI infrastructure and data centers. This represents a 65% increase from the previous year, with 60% of the investment allocated specifically to data center expansion.

This unparalleled spending underscores the industry's recognition of AI infrastructure as a fundamental business necessity rather than a basic operational concern.