AIEnergy

Duke Energy’s Digital Chief Reveals AI Strategy for Power Grid Modernization

Duke Energy’s chief information officer outlines the company’s measured approach to AI implementation and digital modernization. The energy giant is balancing technological innovation with grid reliability as data centers drive unprecedented electricity demand.

Digital Transformation at Scale

Duke Energy’s chief information officer Richard Donaldson is steering one of America’s largest energy companies through a comprehensive digital and AI transformation, according to recent reports. With nearly twenty-five years at the company and nine months as CIO, Donaldson leads technology strategy across Duke’s vast operations spanning generation, transmission and distribution across multiple states.

AIHardware

AMD and Meta Introduce Open Rack Design for Next-Generation AI Computing

Meta has unveiled an open rack specification for AI infrastructure at the OCP Global Summit, with AMD’s Helios system demonstrating how it harnesses MI400 Series GPUs. The collaboration aims to provide scalable, high-performance computing solutions without proprietary lock-in, supporting trillion-parameter AI models efficiently.

Open Standards Drive AI Infrastructure Innovation

At the Open Compute Project (OCP) Global Summit in San Jose, Meta introduced specifications for an open rack architecture designed to enhance artificial intelligence systems, according to reports. The Open Rack Wide (ORW) design, based on open standards, serves as the foundation for AMD’s Helios rack-scale reference system, which aims to improve scalability and efficiency in large-scale AI data centers.

BusinessInfrastructurePolicy

Pennsylvania Data Center Boom Faces Regulatory Hurdles and Community Pushback

Development plans for a major data center at a former Pennsylvania power plant have been stalled by local officials seeking additional studies and community feedback. The delay comes amid growing opposition to data center projects across the state, even as Pennsylvania experiences unprecedented growth in proposed data center capacity.

Springdale Data Center Proposal Delayed

Plans to develop a 180MW data center at the site of a former coal power station in Springdale, Pennsylvania, have been temporarily halted by local officials, according to recent reports. The Springdale planning commission has postponed its decision on whether to recommend the project to the city council, with sources indicating they want more time for additional studies and to gather resident feedback.