When AI Meets the Physical World: Reinventing the Infrastructure Behind the Intelligence

​AI is driving a step-change in demand for power, compute, cooling and critical infrastructure at a time when those systems are already under strain. Grids need rebuilding, new generation needs connecting, and data centers are being developed at unprecedented scale, while cost overruns, workforce constraints, permitting delays and reliability requirements are making infrastructure harder to expand and operate.

​Meeting that demand will require more than simply building more of what exists today. Physical AI is creating new ways to operate and interact with physical assets, while advances in materials, power hardware and infrastructure technologies are expanding what those assets can physically do.

​This panel will ask: as the demands on critical infrastructure change, what must change in the physical world to keep pace? Which technologies are enabling that shift, and what are the implications for capacity, resilience and climate?

Moderated by BCG, the discussion will bring together startups building these technologies, infrastructure owners deploying them, and investors backing their growth.