Highlights from Yotta 2026 and the Race to Power AI

NES Fircroft attended Yotta 2026 as an Industry Partner, joining data center, energy, and digital infrastructure leaders at Ceasers Forum in Las Vegas from September 28-30. Throughout the event, the team connected with organizations tackling one of the industry’s biggest challenges: securing the infrastructure and specialist talent needed to meet the demands of AI and data center development.

As one of the world’s largest data center workforce solutions providers, NES Fircroft was proud to support Yotta 2026 through a strategic partnership that included a joint media campaign before and during the event, alongside participation in conference activities and thought leadership discussions. 

The event brought together professionals from the digital infrastructure sector to discuss investment, energy requirements, workforce availability, and the technologies supporting AI-enabled data center facilities. 

Opening the conversation on the race to power AI

We helped kick off the event on day one with a featured discussion at the Yotta Podcast Stage, hosted by NES Fircroft’s:

• Jack Flaherty – Vice President – Power & Renewables
• Dean Tummons – Business Development Director – Power & Renewables, Americas
• David Wood – Business Development Manager

The session explored “The Race to Power AI: Solving the Talent and Infrastructure Bottleneck in the Data Center Boom”.

The discussions focused on a question that’s attracting attention across the sector: 

Everyone is talking about AI, but who is building the infrastructure behind it?

Our panel explored how AI is influencing power demand forecasts, the pressure data center development places on existing grid infrastructure, and the role of natural gas, renewables, battery storage, SMRs, and microgrids in meeting future energy needs. 

They also addressed workforce challenges affecting engineering, construction, commissioning, and operations teams, drawing on first-hand experience gained across large-scale energy and infrastructure projects. 

Reflecting on conversations throughout the event:

“What stood out at Yotta 2026 wasn’t just the scale of AI infrastructure investment, it was the realization that power has become the critical path. The industry’s challenge is no longer whether AI demand will arrive, but whether we can build the energy infrastructure and skilled talent required, to support it.” 

Dean Tummons – Business Development Director – Power & Renewables, Americas, NES Fircroft

Across the 3-day event, the NES Fircroft team met with developers, operators, contractors, technology providers, and energy specialists working across the data center sector. 

Discussions highlighted the close relationship between workforce planning and project delivery. As companies pursue new data center developments in North America, access to experienced professionals remains a major consideration during all project phases. 

With decades of experience supplying technical talent to complex engineering industries, NES Fircroft supports organizations throughout the full lifecycle, including: Planning & Engineering, Mobilization & Procurement, Civil & Installation Works, Construction, Commissioning, and Operations & Maintenance.

Our expertise in data center infrastructure and the energy projects that support it provides clients with qualified candidates across all necessary disciplines.

Strengthening our presence in North America

Yotta 2026 also provided an opportunity to reinforce NES Fircroft’s position within the North American data center market. 

As investment in AI infrastructure and hyperscale data centers continues to climb, we are expanding our presence throughout the region, building on our 15+ offices with additional openings planned in Austin and Dallas. This venture reflects our long-term commitment to supporting companies and professionals with specialist workforce solutions across the sector. 

Thank you to everyone we met at Yotta 2026

We’d like to thank the Yotta team, fellow partners, clients, and attendees who took the time to connect with us throughout the event and made it such a success.

To learn more about our data center recruitment services and how we can support your next project, contact us today or explore our NES Fircroft x Yotta partnership page.

About Yotta

Based in New York, Yotta is owned by InfraXmedia Ltd., the parent company of DatacenterDynamics, which has been a trusted source of information and events for the data center industry since 1998. Yotta is a major event, designed to unify the entire digital infrastructure industry to solve the cross-stack challenge of sustainable, scalable growth in the age of AI. With a potential seven trillion dollars of hyperscale investment into data centers and AI factories, and a 70 GigaWatt energy gap, it’s a must-attend event for leaders from around the world.