"Data centers are big business. Around 3,000 new data centers - huge buildings that house the computing power that props up the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) - are currently being built or planned across the U.S. Some speculate that global spending on data centers could hit $3 trillion by 2029. Corporate interests - from energy firms and construction companies, to real estate businesses and utilities - are looking to cash in."
"But private equity - that powerful and opaque slice of Wall Street, run by mega-billionaire founders, focused on private investment and outsized profits - is an especially outsized force driving the data center boom, pouring billions into construction deals while also positioning itself to profit from supplying AI's insatiable energy demands. AI profiteers, however, have come up against a major obstacle: a growing, vibrant, locally rooted resistance movement, stretching across the U.S., against the data center boom."
Data centers are rapidly expanding across the United States, with roughly 3,000 new facilities planned or under construction and potential global spending reaching $3 trillion by 2029. Corporate sectors, including energy, construction, real estate, and utilities, are investing to profit from the boom. Private equity firms are major financiers, investing billions in construction while positioning to profit from AI's large energy needs. Local communities are mounting resistance to proposed data center projects over concerns about noise, pollution, increased electricity costs, and threats to water supplies. Residents in places like DeForest, Wisconsin mobilized after learning QTS, a Blackstone unit, proposed a 1,600-acre site.
Read at Truthout
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]