Data Centers | Insurance Strategy | Digital Infrastructure
AI, high-performance computing, and cloud growth are reshaping the data center landscape.
As operators expand, retrofit, and reposition assets for AI and HPC infrastructure, insurance is no longer a back-office purchase. It is becoming central to financing, hyperscaler contracts, construction timelines, business interruption coverage, and long-term scalability. Why? Insurers understand data centers in ways they never fully embraced crypto mining, unlocking better access, pricing, and coverage.
From property and builder's risk to cyber liability insurance, energy risk management, and parametric insurance, AI/HPC facilities are complex, high-stakes environments. The advantage isn’t simplicity. It’s how well the risk is presented.
As some operators shift from cryptocurrency mining and blockchain infrastructure to AI and HPC facilities, the insurance conversation is changing. The insurance gap between Bitcoin mining and AI/HPC data centers is bigger than most expect.
Mining operations often rely on surplus lines carriers, higher premiums, and limited business interruption coverage. AI/HPC projects, by contrast, benefit from admitted markets, standardized forms, and significantly lower rates.
But better terms aren’t automatic. Underwriters are scrutinizing uptime, resilience, and delivery timelines more closely than ever, because hyperscaler expectations leave no margin for error.
As AI infrastructure grows, single-site values are reaching levels that require highly coordinated insurance programs.
IMA recently placed a $4 billion property insurance program for a publicly traded AI and high-performance computing data center company.
The placement reflects what the market now demands: deep technical understanding, disciplined underwriting preparation, and the ability to coordinate capacity across a complex carrier landscape.
AI/HPC programs rely on layered structures, shared across multiple insurers with different risk appetites. For large data center portfolios, coverage strategy must address uptime, revenue dependency, replacement timelines, power infrastructure, cyber liability, and business interruption exposure. The difference between overpaying and optimizing often comes down to how the deal is structured before it hits the market.
From PML analysis to parametric solutions, the most effective programs are engineered in advance.
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Insurance is no longer reactive. It’s a core part of how these projects get financed, built, and delivered.
Introducing Insurance Beyond the Policy, a new video series where IMA experts go beyond coverage to unpack the real forces driving today’s risk landscape. Through candid, expert-led discussions, we explore how industries are evolving, and what that means for clients on the ground.
Our first episode dives into the data center boom, as Bitcoin mining operators pivot to AI and HPC. Listen to Rachel Nixon and Patrick Datz as they highlight emerging risks, shifting insurance dynamics, and how strategic program design is becoming critical to project success.
A data center operator transitioning from cryptocurrency mining to AI/high-performance computing hit a familiar barrier: high electrical loads, non-traditional construction, and limited conventional fire protection pushed insurance options into E&S and international markets, restricting scalable growth.
IMA reshaped the underwriting conversation. IMA risk engineering and brokerage teams:
- completed multi-site technical assessments
- identified and quantified embedded controls (compartmentalization, non-combustible construction, airflow design)
- translated them into clear underwriting insights.
We built defensible loss modeling to reframe probable maximum loss and value aggregation, advised leadership on fire protection strategies that fit operational realities, and led direct engagement with domestic and international carriers.
Result: lead placement moved into the U.S. admitted market, unlocking meaningful capacity for a large AI/HPC facility and establishing a scalable insurance framework for expansion.
As AI, HPC, and digital infrastructure continue to evolve, IMA helps organizations stay ahead of emerging risks and capitalize on new opportunities, positioning data center investments for sustained performance and resilience.
Strong perspective - insurance showing up earlier in complex data center projects really speaks to how risk strategy is becoming foundational, not just protective. It's a clear shift toward embedding insurance into how these large-scale builds actually get structured and executed.