Ep. 029 - Modular Data Centers Cut Build Time to 12 Months (Datacenter, Energy) | Nico Bontigui, Jordan Nanos, Nigel Chiang, Eric Wen

Traditional data center builds ran 18 to 24 months, sometimes past three years. Modular construction cuts that to 12. Jordan Nanos (@JordanNanos) sits down with Eric Wen, Nigel Chiang, and Nico Bontigui to map what modular actually means, from MEP heavy skids to full containerized builds. They break down why the bottleneck moved from construction time to labor, why welders and electricians are the real constraint in Abilene, and how time to power translates directly into tokens at 40 to 100 million dollars per megawatt. Subscribe for weekly SemiAnalysis coverage on data center construction, prefabrication, and AI infrastructure. 0:00 Cold Open1:09 What Is Modular4:03 Why Go Modular5:55 Time to Power Math9:04 Labor Wage Data13:51 Two Kinds of Bottlenecks18:24 Site, Shell, System22:31 Who Owns the Risk26:59 Trucks and Insurance30:53 Who Supplies the Modules35:50 Commissioning Reality41:39 Vendor Map and WrapRead More: The Wild Wild West Of LEGO Datacenters: https://newsletter.semianalysis.com/p/the-wild-wild-west-of-lego-datacenters