NextEra to buy Dominion for $67B, creating the world’s largest utility

On May 18, NextEra Energy announced an all-stock acquisition of Dominion Energy valued at roughly $67 billion, a move aimed squarely at the AI power surge. Dominion serves Northern Virginia, the densest data center market on earth, with more than 450 facilities connected. The combined company would carry a construction backlog of about 130 gigawatts, larger than its existing generation fleet.

Source: Fortune

Power names take center stage as the AI energy bill comes due

Analysts spent the week pointing investors toward the picks and shovels of AI power. CNBC highlighted under-the-radar electrical equipment and generation names poised to benefit as hyperscalers commit to massive new loads. The trade has broadened well beyond chips into transformers, turbines, and grid infrastructure.

Source: CNBC

Global data center M&A blows past $73 billion

Synergy Research reported that data center merger and acquisition activity has already surpassed $73 billion, with the pipeline still building. The figure reflects how much institutional capital is chasing a limited pool of power-secured, AI-ready assets.

Source: DCD

Michigan’s first hyperscale campus moves ahead, a $7B project

Utilities DTE and Consumers advanced plans for Michigan’s first hyperscale data center campus, a roughly $7 billion development. The approval is another sign the buildout is spreading into new states with available power and land, and that local utilities are reorganizing around a handful of very large loads.

Source: Bridge Michigan

Scala advances a large AI campus in Brazil

Scala Data Centers is progressing plans for a large AI-focused campus in Brazil, in talks with US and Chinese technology firms, with first-phase construction expected to begin later in 2026. Latin America is emerging as a meaningful new node on the global AI map.

Source: Data Center Knowledge

Consolidation accelerates as funds chase power-ready assets

The Synergy data confirms what deal desks have felt all year. With more than $73 billion in transactions logged, infrastructure funds and strategics are paying premiums for sites that already have secured power and AI-ready design, and increasingly buying operating platforms rather than single buildings.

Source: DCD

Nvidia’s Vera Rubin bets on hot-water cooling

Details around Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin platform point to warm-water, or hot-water, direct liquid cooling that removes the need for traditional water chillers. The reveal was notable enough to move shares of legacy HVAC suppliers, a sign the market understands how much the thermal stack is about to change.

Why it matters: warm-water cooling lets operators reject heat with far less mechanical refrigeration, cutting both energy use and capital cost. As Rubin-class systems arrive in the second half of 2026, expect chiller-light and chiller-free designs to move from pilot to mainstream.

Source: DCD