The Race to Grab AI Market Share Re-establishes Design-Build as Key to Data Center Delivery

ARTICLE SOURCE: Jack Elsea, MBA, Design Integration Director, Evans General Contractors

Atlanta, GA – April 23, 2025 —In many facets of society, what is “old” seems to re-emerge with new life, often indicative of changing consumer preferences or as a response to market needs. We see this most often and most conspicuously in entertainment and fashion, yet this applies across the economic landscape when conditions are right. The construction industry, especially the mission critical sector, is experiencing such a shift today. Since the dawn of the Cloud Computing Age, Design-Bid-Build has dominated how data centers were delivered until now. Let’s examine the market factors leading to Design-Build taking the limelight and where project delivery is reminiscent of the Enterprise days.

Data center development has long been compared to the 3-legged stool, with speed, cost, and quality as the supports. The common practice was “choose two and live with consequences of prioritizing those factors.” Because we strive to “eat our cake and have it too,” our industry sought to de-risk every facet of development in the endeavor to consistently deliver on all 3 facets. During the Enterprise days, this proved to be a difficult proposition, as each company’s specific requirements made standardization impossible. The big breakthrough was the advent of Cloud Computing during the latter half of the 2000s. By providing companies with an option to move operations off-prem to a user-agnostic platform, standardization was finally achievable, both for Cloud providers and the colocation companies also hosting these services. With a general industry-wide acceptance of Tier-3 facilities and common electrical and mechanical topologies, we were able to build the procurement pipeline of equipment, designers, GCs, and trade partners to support the (mostly) predictable growth in our sector. With standardized, repeatable designs and accurate growth forecasts it became possible to achieve speed, cost, and quality on a consistent basis. Over time the model proved to be incredibly effective, even weathering the equipment delays caused by COVID-19.

We had built an incredibly effective mouse trap, robust enough to withstand a global pandemic that majorly disrupted almost every other aspect of life. What could possibly break this model? Enter the age of GPU workloads, the massive shift in densities, and the arms race to stand up facilities capable of supporting these applications to grab AI market share. It is during these times of uncertainty that the Design-Build model thrives. Let’s use the 3-legged stool model as a lens for today’s market challenges:

Speed

• Reference designs are no longer valid, especially on the cooling side. Requirements are constantly changing, forcing engineers to redesign, re-evaluate, and design first-of-kind design
• End-users are in an arms race to capture AI market share, making speed of the utmost importance, lest they miss the opportunity
• Increased demand for equipment is straining the supply chain and driving up lead times. Manufacturing capacity for liquid cooling kit-of-parts is not nearly as robust as legacy cooling technology, driving lead time

Cost

• Qualified Mission Critical General Contractors and trade partners have limited bandwidth, attracting the right partners can result in increased cost
• Schedule compression drives cost escalation
• Additional design cycles incur additional fees
• Material escalation risk due to inflation, limited supply, and tariff uncertainty
• Limited supply of kit-of-parts compared to demand, higher cost
• First-of-kind add pricing risk due to uncertainty in means-methods

Quality

• Compressed timelines can lead to mistakes in design/construction
• Shortage of skilled, experienced trade labor compared to demand
• First-of-kind pose risk design & installation risks

While classic Design-Build is equipped to handle many of these challenges, the market requires a modern take which blends parts of Integrated Project Delivery, Design-Assist, and traditional Design-Build into a delivery method I call Collaborative Build. This approach provides the flexibility required to adapt quickly to the changing landscape, with input available from all stakeholders to make decisions quickly and move the project forward. Assembling a Collaborative Build Team drives innovation and progress with a continuous focus on the 3 legs of the stool, using experience and teamwork to de-risk delivery.

Speed

• Eliminate back-and forth between design and constructor
• Reduction in RFIs, streamline responses
• Early access to design, move work off site
• Prioritize critical project deliverables
• Partner and capture workforce early—trades on board for quick start

Cost

• General Contractor (GC) pricing design changes in real time
• Input from GC and trades or constructability and means/methods reduces change orders
• Secure LLE and protect from escalation through involvement in design process and early award
• Increased opportunity to move production off-site, reducing cost and onsite labor requirements

Quality

• Early involvement in Firsts-of-Kind with eye to cost, constructability
• Secure qualified trades & labor
• Move construction off-site to fab shops

This resurgence of Design-Build is not a return to its traditional form but rather a modernized, solution-oriented approach that allows for flexible engagement at various stages of a project. Whether at inception, mid-design, or even during construction, data center clients need collaboration from the onset to receive the quality, speed to market, and cost efficiency required to compete in today’s AI space. Full integration of engineers, architects, general contractors, and skilled trades is the way to win in this tumultuous (and thriving) market.

The Design-Build delivery is back and better than ever. It’s not just a trend but a necessity that will play an essential role in shaping the future of data center construction.