Resiliency Becomes Watchword as AI Strains U.S. Infrastructure

WASHINGTON, Sept. 18, 2025 – Artificial intelligence is straining power and connectivity systems, raising urgent questions about resiliency, experts on data centers, nuclear energy, and internet exchanges warned Thursday during a panel discussion on a topic with nationwide significance.

Speaking at the Resilient Critical Infrastructure Summit hosted by Broadband Breakfast, executives from Equinix, X-energy, and DE-CIX said AI was shifting industries into a scramble for capacity, reliability, and speed.

Paul Brownell, who leads global government affairs for Equinix, said the company plans to double its capacity within five years to keep pace with compute demand. Equinix operates 270 colocation data centers worldwide, with nearly half a million interconnections between customers.

“Everything we’ve done to build this capacity over the last 27 years is going to be doubled in the next five years,” he said.

Brownell said the real-time application of AI models that must respond to users quickly will drive even more demand for Equinix’s metro-based model, which places facilities closer to customers to reduce delays. But he warned that the power grid was unprepared.

“We’re facing enormous demand with a flat-footed response right now,” he said. 

Equinix backed the administration’s AI Action Plan, particularly permitting reforms it had lobbied for, but Brownell stressed that much of the regulatory bottleneck remains at the state and local level.

Carol Lane, vice president of government relations at X-energy, said demand from AI has flipped nuclear power from a “technology push” to a “market pull.” Once a 10-person startup, X-energy now employs more than 700 people.

X-energy was advancing its Generation IV reactor designs, which use high-temperature gas instead of water for cooling. Lane said this feature allows the systems to be sited closer to industrial facilities and operate with greater resiliency.

Lane pointed to partnerships with Dow and Amazon, both seeking reliable, low-carbon steam and electricity. 

“Customers are looking for 99.99% reliability,” she said, arguing that advanced nuclear’s flexibility and safety features were gaining traction with industry and policymakers. 

She noted that Congress has provided nearly $10 billion in recent years to support advanced nuclear deployment, enriched uranium capacity, and regulatory reform.

Ed D’Agostino, vice president and regional director at DE-CIX, said internet exchange points will also feel the AI effect. DE-CIX, which operates 55 exchanges worldwide, was expanding its U.S. footprint to handle the surge in traffic that real-time AI applications generate.

That shift was driving IXPs to build multi-core, redundant metro setups so that even if a major building or switch fails, traffic can instantly reroute through another path. 

“We understand that even Manhattan can fail,” he added, “So, we have a dual core infrastructure.”

DE-CIX was building quad-core setups in U.S. metros like Secaucus and Newark to maintain service during outages.