Oak Ridge National Laboratory has formed the Next Generation Data Centers Institute, NGDCI, which will unite the lab’s expertise and facilities in a mission to ensure the security, efficiency and reliability of the nation’s artificial intelligence infrastructure.
According to ORNL, NGDCI will utilize its Modeling Energy Growth Associated with Data Centers, or MEGA-DC, to forecast the costs and economic benefits of infrastructure upgrades to guide decision-makers in figuring out a pathway for scalable AI data center growth.
The Potomac Officers Club will host the Building Mission-Ready AI Infrastructure: Designing a Data and Security Foundation for the Future panel at the 2026 Artificial Intelligence Summit on March 18 to explore strategies for building a scalable, secure AI infrastructure. The event will bring together AI experts from across industry and government to explore how the technology is transforming GovCon. Sign up today to secure your spot.
How Will NGDCI Respond to Growing Energy Demands of AI Centers?
AI-specific workloads drive increased energy consumption across data centers. Training a single large language model consumes hundreds of megawatt-hours of electricity, noted the ORNL.
To address the issue, the new institute will conduct research on six areas key to supporting the rapid expansion of AI:
- Develop next-generation thermal management systems that would reduce energy and water use at AI data centers
- Design power system architectures to improve how electricity flows from source to server
- Identify grid integration strategies designed to ensure data centers stabilize rather than strain local and regional power systems
- Integrate autonomous platforms to optimize workloads and energy use
- Extend cybersecurity protections, including cyber-informed engineering and quantum-safe communications, to data centers
- Utilize integrated systems modeling to better understand how AI infrastructure will affect U.S. energy systems, jobs, materials and economic competitiveness through the 2030s and beyond.
How Did Industry React to NGDCI’s Formation?
Executives from the energy and AI ecosystem have expressed support for the NGDCI. Forrest Norrod, executive vice president and general manager of the data center solutions business group at AMD, emphasized the importance of resilient, power-aware systems to maintain grid stability while enabling efficient AI use at scale.
Meanwhile, Ian Buck, vice president of hyperscale and high-performance computing at NVIDIA, underscored the company’s long-standing partnership with U.S. national laboratories, including ORNL, adding that continued collaboration under NGDCI and the Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission will help better integrate AI infrastructure with the nation’s energy systems and strengthen U.S. energy security.
