Why ‘secure-by-design’ systems are non-negotiable in the AI era

Source Domain: cyberscoop.com

Moody’s recently reported that global investment in data centers will surpass $3 trillion over the next five years, driven by AI capacity growth and hyperscaler demand. As big tech companies, banks, and institutional investors pour capital into these projects, data center developers and their financial sponsors must prioritze cybersecurity.

Moody’s said that data center investments made by the six largest U.S. cloud computing providers — Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Oracle, Meta, and CoreWeave — approached $400 billion last year. The firm anticipates that annual global investment will grow by $200 billion over the next two years.

Real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle forecasted similar investment flows in a separate report published earlier this year, projecting that “nearly 100 GW of new data centers will be added between 2026 and 2030, doubling global capacity.” JLL said that this infrastructure investment “supercycle,” one of the largest in the modern era, will result in $1.2 trillion in real estate asset value creation and the need for roughly $870 billion of new debt financing.

In concert, these reports reflect a growing reality: Data centers are strategic, interconnected infrastructure supporting our manufacturing, national security, and communication systems. Cyber disruptions, whether through ransomware, supply-chain compromise, or operational technology (OT) compromises, can cascade beyond a single facility, threatening grid stability, cloud services, economic activity, and public safety.

Data centers are now critical hubs of energy demand and digital dependency. Their cybersecurity posture is directly tied to the resilience of the industrial and energy ecosystem that support them. For investors and stakeholders, cybersecurity should be fundamental to asset value and risk management. Strong cybersecurity directly affects uptime guarantees, regulatory exposure, insurance coverage, financing terms, and long-term…

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