Phoenix appoints Philip Ross as head of data centers

Phoenix taps new head of data centers: Abu Dhabi-based BTC miner and data center infrastructure developer Phoenix Group appointed Phillip Ross (LinkedIn) as director of data center, design, and development, according to a statement. Ross brings nearly two decades of experience in critical infrastructure, including senior roles at UK data center operator AtlasEdge and IT services firm NTT Data.

REMEMBER- As we reported last month, Phoenix is in the middle of a full strategic pivot away from BTC mining and toward AI infrastructure — a shift CEO Munaf Ali described as a natural evolution given that mining and data centers run on the same core competencies: power procurement, large-scale compute, and cooling.

The company is sitting on a 1 GW target across Europe and the GCC, with an 18 MW facility in Lyon already under construction and due online in 4Q 2027 or 1Q 2028. Ross’s job is to execute that timeline and the broader shift in priorities for Phoenix from BTC mining to data center infrastructure, which, as Ali put it, “takes people who have done it before.”