Infrastructure Principles

The Network’s approach to infrastructure is guided by principles rather than fixed technical specifications. This reflects the reality that compute technologies, hardware platforms, and software systems evolve more rapidly than the physical and institutional environments in which they operate.

By establishing durable principles instead of prescribing particular implementations, the Network ensures that infrastructure decisions remain adaptable while continuing to align with long-term operational requirements.

These principles are applied consistently across planning, development, and operation, regardless of site or technology generation.

Infrastructure within the Mills Network is designed for operational lifespans measured in decades. Short-term performance gains are evaluated against their impact on long-term maintainability, adaptability, and system coherence.

Design decisions prioritise modularity, phased expansion, and clear interfaces between systems. This allows capacity to be added, retired, or reconfigured without compromising the integrity of surrounding infrastructure.

Long-horizon design recognises that the cost of change increases over time and that early alignment with external systems reduces future constraints.

Large-scale compute infrastructure cannot be treated as independent of regional energy and water systems. The Mills Network treats these systems as foundational inputs rather than external services.

Infrastructure planning is therefore coordinated with grid capacity, generation profiles, transmission constraints, and water availability. Where possible, integration prioritises predictability, efficiency, and reduced volatility over maximum short-term throughput.

This approach supports both operational reliability and responsible stewardship of shared resources.

Resilience is treated as a system property rather than a collection of isolated redundancies. The Network emphasises fault tolerance, recoverability, and graceful degradation across infrastructure layers.

This includes planning for environmental variability, supply constraints, maintenance cycles, and external disruptions. Infrastructure is expected to continue operating under degraded conditions rather than optimised conditions.

Operational resilience is reinforced through clear responsibilities, tested procedures, and continuous alignment with external system operators.

The Mills Network applies common standards across sites to support consistency, interoperability, and shared learning. At the same time, infrastructure is adapted to local environmental, regulatory, and operational conditions.

This balance avoids the risks associated with rigid uniformity while preserving system-wide coherence. Local adaptation is treated as a requirement, not an exception.

Standardisation focuses on interfaces, processes, and expectations rather than identical physical configurations.

The Network operates according to a principle of operational restraint. Infrastructure is developed to meet demonstrated need and long-term capacity planning, rather than speculative demand.

This principle recognises that rapid expansion can introduce systemic risk, increase dependency on constrained resources, and reduce long-term flexibility.

Restraint supports predictability for partners, utilities, and regulators, and contributes to sustained legitimacy over time.

Infrastructure principles are reviewed periodically in light of operational experience, external system changes, and evolving regulatory expectations. Review processes are designed to reinforce continuity rather than encourage frequent redefinition.

Adjustments are made deliberately and with an understanding of their long-term implications across the Network.

The application of these principles in practice is described further under Site Development and Operations Overview.