One of the biggest “David versus Goliath” stories in tech right now is the towns beset by AI data center projects they may or may not have asked for. Powered By Who is tracking data center development in the US on this convenient map.
Currently, there are over 2,100 data centers being tracked by the project ranging from proposals to sites fully up-and-running. While you have to build bypasses data centers to keep the internet running (which we’re partial to here at Hackaday), there are certainly questions around the amount of power and water consumed by these sites, the emissions they’re sending into the surrounding community, and who exactly is reaping the benefits.
Whether you’re pro, against, or ambivalent about the proliferation of “AI” data centers, the map offers an engaging way to look at what projects are happening around the nation, especially when you start looking at clusters and how that interacts with the power generation and political makeup in a region. It’s particularly interesting how only three states account for roughly 70% of all the projects. Let us know if there’s a similar tracker in your area if you’re from one of the other parts of the globe!
Looking past the debate, there’s a lot of interesting engineering involved in keeping these data centers cool, although there are questions about where that heat ends up going. DC distribution inside the site, underwater data centers, and even putting them in space are some of the solutions for keeping the cooling loads tamed.
I am torn on this subject–in that the NIMBY protesters likely have endless pictures of their food, their office functions, birthday parties and theme park visits clogging the server farms that do exist …so if they want to be taken seriously, turn in and put down your smart phone before you pick up a protest sign.
Just remember, one person’s protester is another person’s bully…and it is probably some wage-an-hour night watchman paid less than you –that’s the only individual you will see…not Elon.
In the old days of physical media, all such vanity junk stayed safely in the attic on VHS or Super-8 reels away from society. It isn’t as if these server farms were full of discourse over the Riemann Hypothesis….that was back in the day of CERN and Cerf and Henry Spencer graybeards.
That all having been said, they do use a lot of water, but I am hoping all optical systems are on the way:
https://phys.org/news/2026-07-lasers-aim-electron-currents-semiconductor.html
I am reminded of a Buck Rogers episode where things were so advanced that they largely forgot about electricity….the Khan-like Traybor….why do I know this?
Perhaps optics advancements will take care of power and water draw.
Next time take your meds before posting, okay?
Microsoft showed the place for data centers is the same place were windfarms are currently. Take care of two problems at once.