New York's War on Compute

- New York State is considering a moratorium on new data centers, prompted by concerns over energy consumption, environmental impact, and grid strain. AI and cloud computing have dramatically increased demand for data centers, which consume massive amounts of electricity and water for cooling. - City Journal is a conservative urban-policy magazine published by the Manhattan Institute, known for arguing that regulation stifles economic growth and innovation. - "Compute" in tech refers to the processing capacity (CPU/GPU cycles, memory, networking) used to run software, train AI models, and execute digital workloads. Restricting where data centers can be built effectively caps the available compute in that region. - The article frames the moratorium as a "war on compute"—a regulatory hostility that could push tech investment and AI development to other states or countries, harming New York's economy and technological competitiveness.