Modular data center

A modular data center is a facility built from prefabricated, factory-assembled power, cooling and IT modules that are shipped to site and connected together, rather than constructed entirely with on-site trades. Power skids, cooling plants and even entire data halls are manufactured in parallel off-site and craned into position, compressing typical delivery schedules from 24-36 months for conventional construction down to as little as 12-18 months for a first phase. Modules commonly range from 1-5 MW each and can be added incrementally as demand materializes, which suits operators racing to meet AI capacity commitments — Khazna's AUH4 and AUH8 builds in Abu Dhabi and many hyperscale campuses under construction in 2026 use modular architectures for this reason. The tradeoff is less design customization and a dependency on factory and logistics capacity, which itself has become a bottleneck as modular demand has surged industry-wide.