ERNEST POPESCU
METROBLOKS
ERNEST POPESCU
TITLE: FOUNDER & CEO
Ernest Popescu is the founder and CEO of Metrobloks, a data centre company focused on urban, future proof and scalable facilities. His extensive background includes leadership roles at tech giants where he managed global data centre development— overseeing 10GW of capacity at AWS and leading Meta’ s AI / ML infrastructure expansion. At Iron Mountain, Ernest developed 2GW of opportunities across US and European markets. Holding a Mechanical Engineering degree from McGill University, Ernest speaks three languages and splits his time between Seattle and Montreal with his family.
build and operate data centres with a relentless focus on reliability, efficiency, sustainability and customer obsession.”
Redefining the data centre business strategy The traditional approach to data centre development focuses on large-scale facilities in areas with power and land. However, the rise of edge computing and AI inference applications has created new requirements for urban deployments. This shift presents opportunities for providers who can navigate the complexities of metropolitan infrastructure development.
Ernest founded Metrobloks less than a year ago to build and operate data centres in urban, largely populated markets that currently have very little data centre infrastructure supply inventory.
Metrobloks has developed a unique approach to modular and scalable data centres, which aims to enhance performance for businesses, but also to significantly increase access to high-performance computing( HPC) at scale.
To achieve its goal of reinventing how data centres are built and operated, Metrobloks is integrating modularity, sustainability, software and AI to help data centre infrastructure perform to its maximum potential.
“ We want to democratise data centre capacity,” he explains.“ It’ s been an incredible ride so far. As former customers ourselves, knowing what other customers are looking for makes us unique. We know we are on the right track when customers repeatedly and apologetically ask us if we understand that they“ only” need 1MW or 0.5MW of capacity and we reassure them that we do understand and that they are who our product is targeting. The market response has been really rewarding and validating.”
Many of Metrobloks’ employees are, like Ernest, former executives for technology giants like Google, Facebook and Microsoft. Bringing Paul Churnock on board as Vice President of Engineering, Ernest says, has helped the company develop future-proof data centres. This has been achieved by focusing on two
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