ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
TES is leveraging modular construction to meet AI data centre power challenges
Approximately £2.2 trillion will be spent on AI data centres between now and 2029. It’s a huge opportunity for data centre builders. However, the unprecedented scale of opportunity poses its own challenges, not least of which is the speed at which AI infrastructure must come online.
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usinesses can’t afford to wait years for data centre construction to be completed, and every day lost impacts revenues. Traditional on-site construction methods are notoriously slow and cumbersome. Increasingly, off-site manufacturing of vertically integrated modular components is emerging as an essential tool in OEMs’ arsenals, enabling them to meet the scale of demand at the speed it requires.
From its dedicated Data Centre Campus in Northern Ireland, TES’s off-site manufacturing approach is offering data centres the speed and flexibility they need at industrial scales. By prefabricating all elements of its switchboards, including skid-mounted and containerised products, TES’ pods mean less time spent on-site, fewer delays and a significantly faster deployment.
Opportunities and challenges posed by the AI boom
AI demand is massive. Between H1 2024 and H1 2025 the operational capacity of EMEA’s data centre markets rose by 21 per cent, reaching 10.3GW. With more than 2.6GW currently under construction and another 11.5GW in the planning stage, the region’s overall pipeline growth is on track for about 43 per cent year-on-year.
AI’s impact on data centre pipelines goes beyond the number of data centres being built. Facilities designed to support AI training and inference workloads are also pushing rack densities into the stratosphere. Building the infrastructure to support the age of AI is as much a power challenge as it is one of securing GPUs or taming environmental impact. Power requirements per rack have already doubled, tripled, quadrupled and could easily go ten times in the next few years. Pre-AI Boom, rack densities hovered around 10–15 kW; now they’re hitting 40–80 kW in the same physical footprint and growing. The powertrain has to keep up.
The physical build-out of data centres has become another thorny problem. Developers
are encountering mounting execution hurdles, with projects mired by lengthy equipment lead times ranging from eight to 24 months.
Speed is of the essence in the current data centre landscape, and conventional on-site manufacturing can’t keep up. These problems are further compounded by ongoing supply chain disruption and rising costs as Brexit and Trump’s Tariffs make moving goods across borders an ever more expensive, cumbersome process. This is where TES’ modular off-site construction approach can offer the industry a lifeline.
TES accelerates data centre deployment
Once very much a niche application suited to small projects in unconventional locations, modular off-site construction is emerging as a vital source of speed at scale in what would be considered traditional data centre builds.
Benefits breakdown
Reduced on-site time: By completing most of the manufacturing and testing in our controlled factory environment, TES minimises the need for extensive on-site work. This translates to a dramatically reduced construction timeline. Streamlined processes: TES’ prefabricated solutions are designed for seamless integration, ensuring a smooth and efficient installation process, reducing time spent waiting for multiple trades to coordinate on- site.
Parallel workflows: Off-site manufacturing can begin simultaneously with site preparation, further accelerating the overall project schedule.
TES’ off-site manufacturing supports faster and more efficient delivery by prefabricating all elements of the power infrastructure at dedicated campuses within skid-mounted, containerised units. Each TES pod contains a complete suite of power equipment, including high-voltage input, step-down transformers, low-voltage distribution, UPS
18 DECEMBER/JANUARY 2026 | ELECTRONICS FOR ENGINEERS
systems, battery backup and generator transfer capability. Controlled factory settings then mean they can be commissioned and tested before ever leaving the manufacturing facility. It’s a degree of vertical integration to which traditional data centre projects haven’t had access.
Completing the majority of manufacturing and testing off-site also shortens lead times by allowing power infrastructure to be assembled in parallel with other construction on-site. Modular power pods can be completed while the data hall is still under construction, allowing projects to progress at the same time, rather than one after another. For data centre builders looking to build bigger and faster in new markets amid a labour shortage, it’s easy to understand the appeal.
Modular goes mainstream Modular construction is stepping out of its previous role as an enabler of somewhat niche applications like remote sites, disaster recovery facilities, and edge deployments. Modular is moving into the mainstream. It’s a strategy driven by the need for flexibility and speed at scale. TES’ combination of high-capacity manufacturing, controlled conditions, and repeatable modular design enables them to support dozens of concurrent builds and deliver outcomes that traditional construction approaches can’t. It’s the speed, scale and flexibility the AI age demands.
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