Welcome back to Liftoff with Keith, the show where we sit down with the founders, operators, and industry leaders building the future in real time. Today’s guest is one of the most respected voices in digital infrastructure — Dean Nelson. Dean has spent nearly four decades at the center of the internet economy, helping build more than $10 billion in digital infrastructure across four continents for companies like Sun Microsystems, eBay, PayPal, and Uber. He’s also the founder of Infrastructure Masons, a global community uniting the builders of the digital age, now celebrating its 10-year anniversary. In this episode, we unpack the explosive growth happening across AI infrastructure and data centers — including staggering projections that the industry could spend $500 billion this year alone, scale toward $3 trillion by 2028, and potentially hit $7 trillion by 2030. The conversation explores: * Why the industry could spend $7 trillion by 2030 * The explosive rise of AI infrastructure * The shift toward inference and edge computing * Community and environmental pressures facing data center growth * The labor and construction challenges slowing deployment * Why Texas has become ground zero for AI infrastructure expansion * And how power availability may become the defining constraint of the AI era If compute scaled like this but power didn’t… are we effectively bottlenecking the AI era on energy infrastructure? This is a fascinating conversation about the future of AI, data centers, infrastructure, and the physical systems powering the next generation of innovation. Let’s lift off. Connect with Dean Nelson: * Website: https://imasons.org/ * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deannelson/ * Publication: https://imasons.org/publications/ Sponsor Info: We are strategic business advisors with decades of leadership experience and a proven track record of driving businesses’ growth. We specialize in creating custom-tailored strategies to introduce your company, drive growth, build leadership teams, and ensure companies implement appropriate compensation programs. Our mission is to utilize our expansive network to benefit your company https://www.compass-strategic-advisors.com/ Subscribe for more founder insights and hit the bell for notifications! Follow us on our channels for exclusive startup content and behind-the-scenes insights from interviews like this one. * Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3cFpLXfYvcUsxvsT9MwyAD?si=f5a14e779777487d * Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-newman/id1560219589 * Substack: https://keithnewman.substack.com/ * Newman Media Studios: https://newmanmediastudios.com/ * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/liftoffwithkeith From the Host: A Special Shout out to our Great Host of the Ignite Studios: https://www.ignitegtm.com/ and Producers of AI Infra5 @ Plug and Play World HQ in Sunnyvale, CA Liftoff is Sponsored by - Strategic Consulting firm and the M&A specialists at Compass Strategic Advisors - https://www.compass-strategic-advisors.com/ and The GTM Firm - https://www.thegtmfirm.com/ #AIinfrastructureexpansion #Digitalinfrastructuretrends #Datacentergrowth #Powerandenergyconstraints #Waterstewardship #Skilledlaborshortages #Communitypushback #Digitalsovereignty #dgecomputingandAIinference #PrivateAImodels #Largescaleinfrastructureconstruction