"It's one thing if ... we're fighting China and you're developing your model, but once you start selling sexualized chatbots to kids in my state, now I have a problem with that, and I'm going to get involved there, and the Supreme Court is going to back me up on that," Cox said.
[EHS] is actually a profit centre in the company," he says. "I know people tend to think it isn't. Compared to some other hats that I've worn, sustainability is usually not a cost centre.
Revenue hit $11 billion, beating the $10.3 billion estimate by roughly 7%. Free cash flow surged from .6 billion last Q4 to $1.8 billion this year. The company doubled its quarterly dividend to $0.50 and raised 2028 revenue guidance to $56 billion, up from prior expectations near $52 billion. Management projects cumulative free cash flow of $24 billion through 2028.
Anthropic is the latest AI company promising to limit the impact its data centers have on nearby residents' electricity bills. The company said it would pay higher monthly electricity charges in order to cover 100 percent of the upgrades needed to connect its data centers to power grids. "This includes the shares of these costs that would otherwise be passed onto consumers," the announcement says. Anthropic didn't provide details today about any agreements it has inked with energy companies in order to accomplish these goals.
Because they operate continuously, data centers consume electricity. These operations involve operating large numbers of servers, cooling systems, networking equipment, and other infrastructure components. The electricity consumption of data centers varies widely with size, capacity, efficiency, and geographic location, yet demand is constant. While that was an important data point over the past few years, many of the top stocks in the sector have delivered outsized gains and may be trading near their highs.
New Yorker state lawmakers have introduced a bill that would impose a moratorium of at least three years on permits tied to the construction and operation of new data centers. While the bill's prospects are uncertain, Wired reports that New York is at least the sixth state to consider pausing construction of new data centers. As tech companies plan to spend ever-increasing amounts of money to build AI infrastructure, both Democrats and Republicans have expressed concerns about the impact those data centers might have on surrounding communities.
Oracle's investments in AI may prove costly. Investment bank TD Cowen says the company hopes to reduce costs to finance its ambitious AI infrastructure build. To that end, it has already accumulated $58 billion in debt in two months. A round of layoffs affecting 30,000 employees is possible, while even a spin-off of Oracle Health, formerly Cerner, is being considered. Since September, Oracle has lost half of its market value, which currently stands at just under $400 billion.
It's very different having 24% year-over-year growth on $142 billion annualized run rate than to have a higher percentage growth on a meaningfully smaller base, which is the case with our competitors. We continue to add more incremental revenue and capacity than others, and extend our leadership position.
With community opposition growing, data center backers are going on a full-scale public relations blitz. Around Christmas in Virginia, which boasts the highest concentration of data centers in the country, one advertisement seemed to air nonstop. "Virginia's data centers are ... investing billions in clean energy," a voiceover intoned over sweeping shots of shiny solar panels. "Creating good-paying jobs" - cue men in yellow safety vests and hard hats - "and building a better energy future."
Estimates vary widely, but the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab anticipates that the share of electricity production in the U.S. used by data centers could spike from 4.4% in 2023 to between 6.7% and 12% by 2028. PJM expects a peak load growth of 32 gigawatts by 2030 - enough power to supply 30 million new homes, but nearly all going to new data centers.
"There was a public meeting, which most were unaware of," Jessie Chandler, a resident of rural Marion County, told Capital B, referring to a Jan. 22 council meeting. "I know legally they had to announce the public meeting within a certain time frame for all of us to attend, but most of the county [was] preparing for this winter storm, which we know firsthand will affect us all because it has before."
Pennsylvania is a state of many firsts: It was the nation's first capital, the " birthplace of oil production," home to " America's first superhighway," and the state that monopolized the production of steel in the 20th century. More recently, it has been positioned as one of the leading states in "AI readiness," a term that loosely refers to how equipped companies and governments are to adopt and integrate AI into their systems and daily operations.
Good morning. During earnings calls this week, the CFOs of big tech companies, Meta and Microsoft, delivered a similar message: the AI race requires unprecedented capital spending, but that spending is disciplined, demand-driven, and ultimately margin-accretive rather than reckless. The companies urged investors to look past headline numbers and focus instead on utilization, long-term economics, and visible revenue traction.
The US is now leading a global surge in new gas power plants being built in large part to satisfy growing energy demand for data centers. And more gas means more planet-heating pollution. Gas-fired power generation in development globally rose by 31 percent in 2025. Almost a quarter of that added capacity is slated for the US, which has surpassed China with the biggest increase of any country.
The Wall Street investment giant reported that QTS, the data center developer and operator it took private in 2021, was the single largest driver of gains in the company's $1.3 trillion portfolio in 2025. The results were a clear sign that Blackstone's bets on digital infrastructure amid the artificial intelligence boom have reaped returns as other segments of its business, including real estate and private credit, have run into headwinds.
CORNING, N.Y. - January 27, 2026 - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Corning Incorporated (NYSE: GLW) and Meta Platforms, Inc. (Nasdaq: META) today announced a multiyear, up to $6 billion agreement to accelerate the buildout of the most advanced data centers in the United States to support Meta's apps, technologies, and AI ambitions. Under the agreement, Corning will supply Meta with its newest innovations in optical fiber, cable, and connectivity solutions. To support this, Corning will expand manufacturing capabilities across its operations in North Carolina - including a significant capacity expansion at its optical cable manufacturing facility in Hickory where Meta will serve as the anchor customer.
Data centers have caused the demand for gas-fired power in the US to explode over the past two years, according to new research released Wednesday. More than a third of this new demand, the research found, is explicitly linked to gas projects that will power data centers -the equivalent of energy that would power tens of millions of US homes.
In 2020, Microsoft President Brad Smith announced that the company would reduce its water consumption and even become "water positive" by 2030. This means that Microsoft would replenish more water than it consumes. At the time, this goal seemed achievable, but the rapid rise of generative AI has completely changed the playing field. The construction of new data centers has accelerated, and with it the need for water for cooling.
In 2024, OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, called ads a "last resort" for businesses. Well, the parent company of ChatGPT appears to have hit this point in less than two years. OpenAI made big news recently when it announced plans to start testing ads on U.S. users of its free and low-cost subscription accounts. The ads will be clearly labeled, and OpenAI also said it does not plan to sell user conversations to companies or let advertisements drive conversations.
