The number of data center fires and power failures has doubled since 2024, Data Center Dynamics reported Monday, a deterioration that runs against years of improving headline reliability. The AI buildout is the suspected driver: higher rack densities, load variability and operating closer to available power limits increase the likelihood of cascading failures, and shortages of generators, switchgear, transformers and other power and cooling equipment have pushed some operators toward second-hand or unproven hardware.
The pattern matches the Uptime Institute’s Annual Outage Analysis 2026, which found power-related issues caused more than one in five IT service outages over the past three years, with UPS failures the single leading cause at 39 percent, ahead of transfer switch failures at 34 percent and generator failures at 28 percent. Uptime’s research points to lithium-ion batteries in UPS systems as a contributing factor in the gradual rise of major data center fires, though it cautions that the increase may partly reflect the rapid pace of new facility construction rather than inherent battery risk. For the sixth straight year, fewer operators reported an impactful outage, but the ones that occurred got dramatically more expensive: 71 percent of operators who had an outage said their worst incident cost at least $100,000, up from 57 percent the year before.
The finding lands alongside the Senate’s new report on data center costs to communities and the federal scrutiny of the buildout’s physical footprint: the question is shifting from whether enough megawatts can be built to whether the power chain can absorb them safely.