Right now, AI companies are sitting on idle compute. The average data center buildout takes 15-18+ months to complete, and roughly half of data center projects faced unexpected delays in the last year.
AI data center deployment has a speed problem, and GigaBase is how we’re fixing it.
GigaBase is Giga's pre-engineered, modular AI data center system. This post will cover what it is, how we created it, and how it can speed up your time to power.
Persistent challenges in traditional data center deployments
The standard data center build process is sequential by design. You acquire land, then permit, then procure equipment. After all those steps are settled, you hire contractors, build, and commission.
When I look at what consistently breaks these projects, it comes down to three things.
- Equipment lead times
Transformers, switchboards, and chillers regularly run 50+ weeks from order to delivery through legacy manufacturers. Your project timeline is only as fast as your slowest vendor. - Labor constraints:
A 40 MW traditional field build requires 400–500 electricians on site. Finding that workforce, coordinating them, and keeping them productive across a multi-month construction schedule is a challenge, especially with the recent shortage of skilled tradespeople. - Permitting that can't run in parallel:
In a sequential model, permitting is a standalone step rather than running in parallel with manufacturing or site work.
The tier-one operators have built their businesses around this model. They're working at 500 MW to 1 GW scale, with 18–24-month timelines and $15–20M per megawatt. For them, speed has never been the point.
That works if you have years to wait. Most of our customers don't.
The question we set out to answer at Giga was, what happens if you redesign the entire process from scratch, engineering specifically for speed?
That's what GigaBase is.
What makes GigaBase different
GigaBase is our pre-engineered, plug-and-play AI data center system designed for high-density deployments. Our builds start at 8.4 MW and are scalable to a full campus.
Here's how it's structured.
- GigaPod is the compute module. 1.7 MW of white space with integrated power and liquid cooling built in. The system is fully plug-and-play, meaning once you connect power and cooling, you're ready to place compute.
- Power Module handles MV-to-LV conversion. It's a 5000A LV switchboard paired with a 3.6 MVA transformer on a single skid.
- UPS E-House is the 3.0 MW bridge between utility power and generator backup.
- Generator Module provides 3.3 MW of backup power. It runs on diesel and can run for 24 hours before needing to be refueled.
- Chiller Module handles heat rejection through a combination of dry cooling and refrigerant-based chilling. The dry cooler uses ambient airflow to cool the water loop under normal conditions, and the chiller takes over when higher-density XPU loads demand colder water temperatures than free cooling alone can achieve.
- Glue Modules are the electrical and mechanical interconnects that tie everything together. Busways, water conduits, and power connections between modules. These proprietary components make our GigaBase system plug-and-play and enable us to reduce field labor by up to 90%.
Every one of these modules ships pre-built, pre-tested, and pre-commissioned from our factory. When a module hits your site, the on-site work is connecting power and cooling to the next module rather than field-assembling an entire data center from components.
Every part of the GigaBase system is also chip-agnostic and fully customizable. Our system works with GPUs, TPUs, and all sorts of different power configurations. Rather than locking our customers into one compute architecture, GigaBase is built to handle whatever you have today and whatever comes next.
Our 9-month build timeline
Our full vertical integration gives us the ability to handle steps in parallel instead of sequentially. That capability lets us deliver rack-ready data centers faster than anyone else. Let us show you how that looks in practice.
How the Giga approach looks in practice
Giga currently has 175 MW of data center sites online across the U.S. right now, with 500+ MW in active development. Included in that number is the 40 MW site we built in just 60 days. With full control over our equipment supply chain, module-based design, and an in-house construction team, we can move fast and avoid the delays that typically push projects off schedule.
The honest reality of where the market stands right now: from a site development standpoint, we don’t have any competition. No one else is credibly telling the market they can deliver at this timeline, and the ones trying to get close are buying their infrastructure from us.
We’re committed to building data centers faster and more reliably than anyone else in the industry.
Ready to deploy your AI data center faster?
The AI infrastructure bottleneck is, ultimately, a process problem. And process problems have solutions.
GigaBase is our solution. We have a portfolio of powered land, manufacture our own modules, and offer in-house construction. When you work with Giga, you don’t have to coordinate multiple vendors with separate timelines. Instead, you get full-stack accountability from a single partner.
Nine months. One partner. With GigaBase, it really is that simple.
Get in touch with our team to talk through what a GigaBase deployment looks like for your project.
.png)
.avif)
