February 12, 2026

Top news (3)

1. Behind-the-meter gas generation is scaling quickly for US AI/HPC loads: INNIO to supply 1.5 GW behind‑the‑meter power to VoltaGrid via 300 Jenbacher gas engines (25MW blocks) delivered by 2028.

2. Virginia’s data center policy debate is intensifying: a statewide coalition is pushing “comprehensive reform,” while multiple bills have already failed committee and others remain live: Virginia coalition urges statewide data center reform in Richmond.

3. The EU is moving toward stronger ICT supply-chain controls that could affect data center operators and critical digital infrastructure procurement: EU proposes ICT supply chain security framework under CSA2, including high-risk supplier designations and potential penalties tied to global turnover.

Key deals & projects

United States

• Behind-the-meter generation platform build-out

  • INNIO to supply 1.5 GW behind‑the‑meter power to VoltaGrid:
    • Volume/timeline: 1.5GW to be delivered by 2028.
    • Configuration: 300 Jenbacher gas engines (Type J624 and J620) packaged into 25MW units.
    • Productization: integrated into VoltaGrid’s QPac™ platform.
    • Use case: targets AI and high-performance computing data centers across the US.
    • Operating modes: prime, backup, and peaking power; explicitly positioned as “without batteries.”

• Crypto-to-data center development pivot (governance signal)

  • Cipher Appoints Thomas Duda to Board of Directors for Expansion: Cipher Mining appoints Thomas Duda (VP Real Estate, Henry Crown and Company) to support its pivot to industrial-scale data center development and operations.

• Federal cloud modernization demand signal

  • Oracle Cloud Infrastructure to modernize CMS mission-critical systems: CMS selects Oracle Cloud Infrastructure to consolidate/migrate select on-prem workloads using FedRAMP High-authorized infrastructure, with integrated analytics and AI capabilities.

Europe

• On-prem / hybrid positioning for regulated workloads
  • OVHcloud promotes On‑Prem Cloud Platform for strategic autonomy: OVHcloud outlines an on-site cloud platform aimed at regulated sectors (industry, healthcare, public sector), including support for AI services, edge, and air-gapped deployments, and positioning around open standards to minimize lock-in.

Power, grid & interconnection highlights

United States (Virginia)

• Onsite gas plant proposed due to grid delivery timing

  • Remington data center seeks onsite 13-turbine gas power plant:
    • Scope: onsite primary gas-fired plant with 13 turbines, plus a natural gas gate station and an electrical substation.
    • Rationale cited: applicant says Dominion cannot supply grid power until 2030 earliest.
    • Permitting: applied for an Article 6 Minor NSR air permit.
    • Next step: comments urged ahead of the Fauquier County Planning Commission work session Feb. 19.

• System-level takeaway for investors: the combination of long utility timelines and local opposition/permitting complexity is reinforcing a shift toward behind-the-meter solutions (as also reflected in the VoltaGrid/INNIO order).

Policy & regulation

United States (Virginia)

• State legislative activity on data centers
  • Virginia coalition urges statewide data center reform in Richmond:
    • The Virginia Data Center Reform Coalition conducted a Richmond “lobby day,” meeting 80+ legislative offices.
    • Bills defeated in House Finance Committee: HB658, HB589, HB155.
    • Bills still under consideration (including amended items): SB253 (amended), SB619, SB553, SB339, HB897.

European Union

• Proposed supply-chain security framework (CSA2) with enforcement hooks
  • EU proposes ICT supply chain security framework under CSA2:
    • Mechanism: a five-step ICT supply chain security process enabling the EU to designate “countries of concern” and list high-risk suppliers.
    • Impacted entities: measures can apply to NIS2 entities (including prohibitions and mitigations).
    • Timelines: security assessments within 6 months; exemption decisions within 9 months; example transition timeline noted as 36 months for mobile networks.
    • Penalties: up to 1% / 2% / 7% of worldwide turnover (enforced by Member States’ NIS2 competent authorities).

Europe (Ukraine / Horizon Europe)

• Post-quantum cryptography program expansion
  • Ukraine joins European post-quantum cryptography project QARC consortium: Ukraine joins the Horizon Europe QARC project (11 European countries), with work through 2028 covering post-quantum protocols (Kerberos, PKI, TLS) and quantum-resistant cloud storage/e-Government/e-Voting solutions.

Tech & operations watchlist (selected research)

• GPU telemetry for AI governance: Timing and Memory Telemetry on GPUs for AI Governance proposes primitives to detect compute utilization without trusted firmware or vendor counters.
• Storage security with minimal overhead: Hazel: Secure and Efficient Disaggregated Storage for Data Centres extends NVMe-oF under a confidential computing model; prototype reports ~1–2% performance degradation on tested workloads.
• Multi-tenant inference side-channel mitigation: Selective KV-Cache Sharing Mitigates Timing Side-Channels in LLMs describes selective KV-cache sharing to prevent API-visible timing side-channels while improving performance vs full isolation.

2-line summary

Behind-the-meter generation and onsite gas proposals are increasingly being positioned as practical answers to long grid timelines for AI/HPC growth. EU supply-chain security and active US state-level policy debates are adding another layer of execution and compliance risk to platform expansion.