Securing AI Data Center: Architecture, Security Posture, and Emerging Standards

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Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is a transformative technology with widespread applications, and its breakthroughs are reshaping the global balance of power. The AI data centers, the computing infrastructures that enable AI training, inference, and applications, have seen tremendous growth in capability, scale, and investment.

AI data center security is a key component to achieving AI safety, security, and trustworthiness. America’s AI Action Plan outlines key actions to maintain the US’s unchallenged global technological dominance in AI, and it demands new technical standards for high-security AI data centers.

As part of the NIST effort to develop secure AI data center standards, we will host “Securing AI Data Center: Architecture, Security Posture, and Emerging Standards” virtual workshop on July 22-23, 2026 from 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. EDT. The workshop aims to listen to the community’s needs and feedback, report and reflect on the ongoing activities at NIST, and define and discuss future directions with stakeholders from government, industry, and academia. The workshop will cover topics including, but not limited to, those listed below:

• AI data center architecture and key components in hardware, software, data storage, access control, and system management
• AI model training, inference, and agentic AI workflows
• Regulatory and compliance challenges to AI data centers
• Challenges and security in AI data center supply chain, Operational Technology (OT), facility construction, power and sustainability, physical and personnel security
• Current AI data center security posture and future security challenges
• Existing and emerging AI data center standards

Organizing Team: NIST (ITL, CAISI), DoW (HPCMP)

NIST ITL:

• Yang Guo (yang.guo [at] nist.gov (yang[dot]guo[at]nist[dot]gov))
• Jay Rekhi (sanjay.rekhi [at] nist.gov (sanjay[dot]rekhi[at]nist[dot]gov))
• Barbara Cuthill (barbara.cuthill [at] nist.gov (barbara[dot]cuthill[at]nist[dot]gov))
• Kinshasa Letts (kinshasa.letts [at] chips.gov (kinshasa[dot]letts[at]chips[dot]gov))

NIST CAISI:

• Bennett Tomlinson (prentis.tomlinson [at] nist.gov (prentis[dot]tomlinson[at]nist[dot]gov))
• Peter Cihon (peter.cihon [at] nist.gov (peter[dot]cihon[at]nist[dot]gov))

DoW HPCMP:

• Stephen Bowman (stephen.bowman [at] dren.hpc.mil (stephen[dot]bowman[at]dren[dot]hpc[dot]mil))
• Rickey Gregg (rickey.gregg [at] dren.hpc.mil (rickey[dot]gregg[at]dren[dot]hpc[dot]mil))
• John Williams (john.t.williams [at] usace.army.mil (john[dot]t[dot]williams[at]usace[dot]army[dot]mil))