The rapid construction of data centers around the world is a huge investment opportunity but also creates headwinds, but global insurer Chubb’s capabilities in the area are extremely broad, CEO Evan Greenberg emphasized on the company’s recent earnings call.
Greenberg emphasized that Chubb has “double-down” on its internal structures to provide comprehensive coverage for the complex lifecycle of the data center.
The executive highlighted Chubb’s ability to provide end-to-end insurance solutions globally. The company’s involvement spans these facilities from initial groundbreaking to long-term operations.
“This is a global opportunity, and our capabilities are very broad,” Greenberg said. “We’re a rare breed in terms of capabilities. The builders take the risk, the real estate side of the operation. We also do engineering. We have a lot of capacity and other people have stakes behind us.”
The CEO detailed the extensive list of risks Chubb currently provides to data center developers.
He said: “Chubb insures maritime and all associated risks associated with it. Warranty, liability and professional coverage when it comes to data center design. We are one of the few companies to insure against the full range of risks faced by data center builders around the world.
“We are a major writer on the utility and energy side, and no one is building a large data center without an energy and utility dimension. And we can transition to that seamlessly within our footprint as well.”
Despite the surge in project announcements, Greenberg advised caution, warning against “getting too breathless” about the pace of development.
“One thing I would say right now is that there are a lot of projects that have been announced, and it’s still a question of how many of them actually get built and how soon,” Greenberg said.
“There is resistance to the availability and affordability of energy to power data centers. This is a growing problem. How quickly will this problem be solved? There will be a different answer for each data center based on where they are located.
He concluded: “There’s more resistance in terms of where data centers can be built. There’s also the issue of labor, whether labor is available to build data centers. Supply, supply chain and supply costs are open questions. So there’s a lot of announcements and we’re all keeping an eye on it, but I would be careful not to get too breathless about it.”
