The AI capacity land grab just set a record
The news: A BlackRock-led group closed a $40 billion buyout of Aligned Data Centers on July 21. It is the largest data-center deal on record.
Why it matters: AI-grade colocation is consolidating into a few mega-owners who control 51 campuses and 6.4 gigawatts of power. That hands landlords pricing power just as every enterprise chases the same GPU capacity.
What to do: If your colo or power contracts renew in the next two quarters, lock capacity and rates now, before the new owners reprice.
Patch AD FS before Tuesday
Microsoft is patching an Active Directory Federation Services zero-day, CVE-2026-56155, that attackers are already exploiting. It lets an authorized user escalate to admin and forge federation tokens, so a foothold becomes full identity takeover. CISA put it on the KEV list with a federal deadline of July 28, this Tuesday. Patch every AD FS server before then, using the July 14 updates. Then rotate your token-signing and DKM keys, because pre-patch access may have exposed the key material.
AMD's real shot at Nvidia
At its Advancing AI event this week, AMD launched the Instinct MI400 chip line and a rack-scale system called Helios. What makes this one different is the customer list. OpenAI, Microsoft, and Meta committed, and Anthropic signed a strategic partnership. That is the most credible second source to Nvidia the market has seen. If you are sizing 2027 AI capacity, add a non-Nvidia lane to your procurement math now.
Watch This
AI cost is shifting from a flat seat license to a metered, capacity-constrained line item. The 2027 budget question is less about seats and more about locked capacity and per-run agent cost. Build FinOps guardrails now, before adoption scales the bill for you.
This week, DoGood network members are pulling AI capacity and power commitments forward in their 2027 planning, rather than waiting for renewal. If you run IT at a $100M+ company, that is the budget conversation your peers are already having.
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