Boom or Bubble? The Real Estate and Energy Behind AI with Curt Holcomb

Kirk Offel sits down with Curt Holcomb, Vice Chairman of JLL’s Data Center Solutions group, for a wide-angle look at how the industry grew from one-rack data closets and telecom switch sites into multi-building campuses that increasingly require their own power generation.Drawing on 26 years at the front end of data center transactions, Curt breaks down the dot-com boom and bust, the rise of colocation, COVID’s impact on enterprise demand, the arrival of GPU-as-a-service, and the power constraints shaping today’s AI buildout. He and Kirk discuss why site selection now begins with available megawatts rather than acreage, whether the current growth cycle is a boom or a bubble, and why Texas is attracting so much infrastructure investment.The conversation also covers closed-loop cooling, tax incentives and community benefits, public distrust, town-hall opposition, and the industry’s failure to explain itself clearly. They close with the innovation, careers, and veteran talent that will be required to build the next generation of digital infrastructure.For more about us: https://weareoverwatch.com/data-center-revolution-podcast/For guest inquiries reach out to: podcasts@weareoverwatch.com