moving fast to deploy AI at scale. But scaling AI means more data centers—and data centers consume vast quantities of energy. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey’s Jesse Noffsinger and Pankaj Sachdeva speak with Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly about what needs to happen to build new, bigger data centers quickly, as well as to sate their growing hunger for power.

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1d:T412,M&A activity is down, as is private equity investment, and companies are facing a range of new geopolitical tensions. Still, there is a path to growth through M&A for those companies that maintain an active acquisition strategy, understand their capabilities, and avoid certain assets, says McKinsey Senior Partner Jake Henry. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, he and McKinsey Senior Partner Mieke Van Oostende join McKinsey Editorial Director Roberta Fusaro to discuss findings from McKinsey’s 2025 M&A report. They also discuss the importance of culture in M&A integrations. In our second segment, McKinsey Senior Partner Dana Maor shares how CEOs can and should stay connected to their teams with Managing Editor of Podcasts, Laurel Moglen. (Starts at 15:58) Articles mentioned: The c

Data centers: The race to power AI