In this article, Inc. magazine takes an in-depth look at CoreWeave’s momentum and vulnerabilities as it races to establish itself as the defining infrastructure provider of the AI era. Recent wins from Meta and Anthropic sent CoreWeave’s stock up sharply, but the piece examines whether the company can sustain that momentum in an environment of mounting power constraints, construction challenges, and growing public opposition to data centers.

DataBank COO Joe Minarik is cited as a key voice on the power challenge and other possible misconceptions facing the entire industry. Electrical grids in metropolitan areas are already under strain, Minarik explains, and bringing new data centers online now typically takes two to three years depending on power availability.

“You’re seeing the utilities kind of come to a grinding halt and say: Whoa, wait. We have these new models and loads we have to run that we’re just not used to anymore, and it’s going to take us a year to run the models. So that’s inserted a big delay in the data centers and the ability of the hyperscalers to build.”

— Joe Minarik, COO, DataBank

The article also notes that as many as half of AI data centers expected to open this year are delayed or canceled — a reminder that despite the industry’s headline-grabbing investment announcements, execution remains the defining challenge.

Building data centers at scale requires navigating power constraints, utility timelines, and community opposition that no amount of capital can simply overcome.

Read the full article at Inc.