Data Centers & National Security Summit

Defense Strategies Institute’s Data Centers & National Security Summit will convene senior leaders, top experts, and strategic decision makers from across the Commercial Sector, Federal Government, DoW, National Labs, and Academia for in-depth discussions on powering and securing critical data center infrastructure in support of national security. This forum aims to explore the technologies and strategies that ensure data centers operate efficiently and securely, with a focus on power management, cooling systems, and operational resilience.

The AI boom is driving an unprecedented global build-out of digital infrastructure, with trillions of dollars flowing into data centers that will power the next generation of economic growth, defense capabilities, and technological leadership. As computing capacity, energy availability, and infrastructure security become strategic assets, understanding the intersection of data centers and national security has never been more urgent.

Powering data centers is now a critical national security issue. These facilities underpin essential sectors including defense, finance, healthcare, telecommunication, etc. As AI workloads and cloud demand surge, the energy footprint of data centers is expanding rapidly. In the United States, data centers already account for roughly 4% of national electricity use, a figure expected to more than double by 2030. At the same time, the global market for data center power infrastructure is expected to exceed $50 billion over the next five years, driving rising computing demand, stricter energy efficiency requirements, and the need for resilient and secure energy systems.

Against this backdrop, the 2026 Data Centers & National Security Summit brings together leaders from government, industry, and academia to address the most pressing power, energy, and cooling challenges shaping the future of digital infrastructure. Attendees will gain actionable insights on emerging energy solutions including nuclear and advanced grid strategies, securing and scaling data center infrastructure in an era of geopolitical competition, networking and connectivity strategies to support AI-scale workloads, public-private partnerships driving resilient digital infrastructure, innovative power and cooling solutions, sector-specific approaches to powering and operating data centers across critical infrastructure industries, sustainability, grid resilience, and cost management for next-generation facilities, and much more! Join policymakers, infrastructure operators, technology leaders, and energy experts to explore how the United States can building secure, sustainable, and resilient digital infrastructure powered by next-generation power and cooling solutions for the decades ahead.