#data-centers

Kevin O'Leary claimed China stirred protests against his data center project in Canada, but local opponents say the opposition was organic and environmental.

This paper humorously proposes using living spiders as biological cooling devices for data centers, suggesting that spiders' natural thermoregulation and web-building behaviors could be repurposed to dissipate heat and direct airflow, potentially offering a low-energy alternative to traditional cooling systems.

While GPU and memory shortages dominate AI infrastructure discussions, the article argues that a more critical bottleneck is the lack of skilled electricians and electrical engineers needed to install, connect, and power the massive datacenter builds required for AI workloads.

Ohio has temporarily suspended a tax break for data centers as tech companies face growing pressure to help cover the costs associated with the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure.

An exclusive report reveals a new intelligence bureau is monitoring critics of AI data centers, raising concerns about surveillance of opposition to the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure.

French AI startup Mistral is exploring the possibility of designing its own chips for AI data centers, a move that could reduce its reliance on external suppliers like Nvidia and give it more control over performance and costs.

Amazon's AWS has published a new random graph network topology it claims solves a key technical bottleneck for scaling data centers. The approach aims to improve performance and reduce costs for its massive cloud infrastructure by optimizing how thousands of servers communicate.

Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch told CNBC the company is exploring designing its own chips for AI data centers, potentially joining a trend of tech firms developing in-house hardware to reduce reliance on external suppliers and optimize performance.

The rapid expansion of AI data centers is straining power grids, causing delays and rising costs that are becoming a contentious issue in the midterm elections. Utilities struggle to keep up with surging electricity demand from AI operations, raising questions about grid reliability and who should pay for the necessary infrastructure upgrades.

The article reports that in Kansas, simply mentioning a proposed data center development is enough to draw large, often angry crowds to public meetings. Residents are voicing concerns over land use, environmental impacts, and lack of local control, reflecting growing opposition to such projects across the state.

Lombardy, Italy's most populous region, has approved a measure that introduces increased charges of up to 200% for constructing data centers in green and agricultural areas. The new tax aims to discourage data center development on undeveloped land and steer projects toward already urbanized or industrial zones instead.

SpaceX is reportedly considering an IPO valuing the company at over $250 billion, with a key focus on using Starlink's low-latency network to deploy data centers in space. This could address Earth-based physical and regulatory constraints on data processing, though technical and economic challenges remain.

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich has launched a public map tracking data center locations across the U.S. and is asking Americans to help identify and report data centers in their communities. The map aims to highlight the environmental and resource impacts of the growing number of data centers nationwide.

Consumer advocate Erin Brockovich has created a public, interactive map that tracks data center locations across the United States, aiming to shed light on their environmental impact and energy consumption.

Kassi Solberg, a mother of six living near a major data center hub in rural Nebraska, has become a prominent activist fighting the expansion of large-scale data centers. She argues that these facilities strain local water and power resources while offering few jobs, rallying her community against tech giants like Google and Facebook.

A discussion examines the ambiguous term "compute scarcity," with views ranging from GPU underutilization to power/electricity limits, cooling demands, and real estate constraints. Some note rising energy costs and power outages due to data center expansion, while others mention orbital data centers as a potential long-term solution.

Chile’s ongoing mega-drought is straining water resources as tech companies build massive data centres in the region, raising concerns over the environmental toll on local wetlands and water availability for communities.

Day one of Data Centre Live 2026 highlighted five key themes: the accelerating demand for AI-ready infrastructure, growing pressure on power grids and sustainability targets, the need for more diverse supply chains, talent shortages in the sector, and the increasing importance of edge computing and modular data centre designs.

European data centers are increasingly repurposing the waste heat generated by their servers to warm homes and buildings, turning a costly byproduct into a community resource. This approach improves energy efficiency and reduces carbon emissions, with several projects already operational across the continent.

Data centers now account for 6% of total US electricity consumption, a significant increase driven by the rapid expansion of AI computing and cloud services. This growing energy demand has sparked a backlash from environmental groups, local communities, and regulators concerned about carbon emissions, grid strain, and the construction of new power plants to meet the need.

Data centers bring significant economic benefits like jobs and tax revenue to local communities. While concerns exist over their high energy and water usage, many towns are competing to attract them due to the potential for revitalizing local economies.

Tech companies are quietly canceling or scaling back plans for AI data centers due to rising costs, energy constraints, and slower-than-expected growth in AI demand, signaling a potential shift in the industry's infrastructure strategy.

A new analysis from the Ohio Department of Taxation shows that a tax break for data centers will cost the state $1.4 billion more than originally projected in 2025, bringing the total foregone revenue to $2.6 billion. The cost has surged due to a larger-than-expected number of data centers qualifying for the incentive.

A recent survey finds that a majority of Americans oppose the construction of data centers in their communities, with women expressing significantly stronger opposition than men, driven by concerns over environmental impact, energy usage, and quality of life.

Growing backlash against AI data centers, driven by environmental concerns and questions about economic returns, is creating risks for investors who have poured capital into the sector. Regulatory pushback and market skepticism could lead to reduced valuations and job losses in the AI infrastructure space.

A report alleges that opposition to AI data center development in the U.S. has been influenced by Chinese-linked actors seeking to slow American technological progress. The report claims these actors have funded or supported local groups opposing data center construction, framing it as a strategic effort to hinder U.S. AI competitiveness.

Residents of the small Texas town of Taylor are organizing, including through prayer, to oppose the construction of multiple data centers, citing concerns over water usage, noise, and changes to the community's character. The local backlash reflects a growing national resistance to data center expansion in residential areas.

Anthropic is paying $15 billion annually to secure capacity at Elon Musk's data centers as part of a major deal to access computing power for AI development. The agreement underscores the high demand for infrastructure in the competitive AI sector, with Anthropic seeking alternatives to its reliance on cloud providers like Amazon and Google.

OpenAI's "Stargate" data center project in the US is advancing, with multiple sites under consideration or development to support the company's expanding AI infrastructure needs, though specific locations and timelines remain largely undisclosed.

A SpaceX IPO filing accidentally revealed that Anthropic is paying around $15 billion annually to access data center capacity, highlighting the massive costs AI companies bear to secure computing power.