Steele has a vivid way of explaining how AI and quantum computing will coexist within tomorrow's data centres. She describes digital infrastructure as a "layer cake": internet service providers form the base tier, followed by network providers, then content delivery and cloud. AI — the penultimate layer — is being added right now. Quantum, in her telling, will be the layer that ultimately crowns the whole structure.

For Steele and Equinix, the question of whether quantum technology will live up to its substantial hype has largely been settled. The more pressing question is how quantum can be integrated with the systems already in place. As she puts it: "These kinds of infrastructures have to live together." The real challenge — and the real opportunity — lies in providing access to that converged infrastructure.

While quantum computing is still maturing, its development has become noticeably more tangible with each passing year. Quantum providers, who historically relied on universities and research labs, are now building toward commercial deployment in data centres — recognising that colocation at scale is the only viable route to a sustainable business model.

One of the most significant catalysts for quantum's commercial acceleration, according to Steele, has been what she calls the "Jensen Huang effect". Jensen Huang, Founder and CEO of NVIDIA, previously suggested that practical quantum computing was still decades away — but later reversed course. He began developing NVQLink, an interconnect between NVIDIA processors and quantum processing units, while also building AI models expressly designed to enable quantum technology.

This pivot from one of the technology world's most influential figures has sent a strong signal across the industry. The acknowledgment from NVIDIA that AI and quantum are complementary — rather than competing — has added significant momentum to the broader conversation about converged infrastructure and hybrid compute architectures within data centres.

Infrastructure leaders at Equinix are already working alongside quantum providers including PsiQuantum and Oxford Quantum Circuits (OQC), with OQC having installed a quantum computer in Equinix's TY11 Tokyo IBX data centre. Quantum providers are currently experimenting with more than 12 different hardware modalities, each offering different trade-offs in speed, stability, and error rates.

Beyond AI and quantum, Steele turned her attention at the London Summit to a third force quietly reshaping how infrastructure decisions are made: data sovereignty. In 2026, the question of where AI infrastructure is built — and by whom — is no longer purely a technical one. It is being driven by two converging pressures: a shifting geopolitical landscape and tightening regulation.

Together, these forces are producing what Steele describes as a "private AI play": enterprises retaining core infrastructure for themselves while using public cloud for on-demand AI models and burstable capacity. Nowhere is this trend more pronounced than in Europe. BT's partnership with UK-based neo cloud provider NScale, and Deutsche Telekom's comparable moves in Germany, are emblematic of a broader continental pattern.

For Equinix, with its 280+ data centres spanning six continents, these are strategic issues — not peripheral ones. The company's Distributed AI infrastructure, underpinned by its Fabric Intelligence platform and a global AI Solutions Lab across 20 locations in 10 countries, is built precisely to help enterprises meet regional compliance requirements while accessing global interconnection ecosystems.

Key Takeaways

• →Petrina Steele frames digital infrastructure as a "layer cake" — with AI the current top tier and quantum computing set to crown the whole structure, making convergence between the two technologies an infrastructure imperative, not a distant theoretical.
• →The "Jensen Huang effect" — NVIDIA's pivot toward developing NVQLink and AI models for quantum enablement — has acted as a major catalyst, signalling to the market that AI and quantum are complementary forces rather than competing ones.
• →Quantum providers are actively building toward data centre colocation, understanding it is the only path to commercial scale — despite the significant engineering challenges posed by cryogenic cooling requirements.
• →Data sovereignty is reshaping AI infrastructure decisions in 2026, driven by geopolitical shifts and tightening regulation — producing a "private AI play" trend where enterprises retain core infrastructure and use public cloud only for burstable capacity.
• →Equinix's Distributed AI infrastructure — including Fabric Intelligence and a global AI Solutions Lab — is purpose-built to help enterprises operate across regions while meeting data sovereignty and compliance requirements.
• →With 60% of Equinix's largest Q4 2025 deals tied to AI workloads and a record $474M in new annualised bookings, the company is firmly positioned as the connective infrastructure layer for both today's AI era and tomorrow's quantum-AI convergence.