Ep. 38 - The Land of Giants: Power, Private Capital and the AI Infrastructure Race, with Krupal Raval

In this episode of Great Business Minds, João Marques Lima speaks with Krupal Raval, Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at CyrusOne, about the forces reshaping global digital infrastructure. With a career spanning leadership roles at Digital Realty, Equinix, and now CyrusOne, Raval has witnessed - and helped shape - the industry’s evolution from post-dot-com consolidation to today’s AI-driven capital supercycle. The conversation explores how the sector has transformed into what Raval describes as a “land of giants” - an environment where access to capital, power and long-term partnerships increasingly determines who can compete at scale.   The AI inflection point According to Raval, the scale of change now underway is without precedent. While traditional cloud infrastructure is forecast to nearly double in capacity over the coming years, AI-driven workloads are projected to expand at multiples of that. The implications are profound: Data centre design is shifting toward higher density and advanced cooling architectures. Capital requirements are moving from billions to trillions. Power strategy is becoming as critical as real estate strategy. At CyrusOne, this has translated into a “power-first” approach - securing long-term energy partnerships and investing in net-new generation capacity to support future growth responsibly.   Capital, competition and discipline The episode also examines the structural shift from public to private ownership across the sector, and what that means for long-term value creation. Backed by KKR and BlackRock, CyrusOne operates with a multi-decade investment horizon - a model Raval argues is particularly well-suited to infrastructure cycles of this magnitude. He discusses: Why the industry requires patient capital The risks of overextension amid record demand How to avoid “building snowflakes” in an era of rapid technological change The importance of maintaining operational discipline during hypergrowth   Power, community and long-term responsibility Beyond gigawatts and growth projections, Raval emphasises the importance of trust - with employees, customers and communities alike. From energy partnerships in Texas to workforce development initiatives and local engagement programmes, the conversation highlights the delicate balance operators must strike: enabling exponential compute growth without triggering community backlash or grid instability. As AI accelerates discovery across healthcare, materials science and climate research, Raval argues that digital infrastructure is no longer a background utility - it is becoming central to global competitiveness and societal advancement. “In ten years,” he says, “we could see a hundred years of discovery.”   Leadership in a hypergrowth cycle The discussion closes on leadership - the role of humility in hiring, the importance of working with people you trust, and the necessity of passion in sustaining performance through relentless growth cycles. Quoting Steve Jobs, Raval reflects on a philosophy that has shaped his career: “You don’t hire smart people to tell them what to do. You hire smart people so they can tell you what to do.”