Facebook's parent company Meta plans to invest billions of dollars in a new AI data center in northern Louisiana. The project is expected to create between 300 and 500 jobs and help enhance Louisiana's position in critical technological infrastructure. According to an application submitted to state regulators, an unnamed company plans to build a 'large-scale facility with economic transformation potential' near Holly Ridge in Richland Parish.

Recently, NVIDIA's newly launched Blackwell AI chip has encountered overheating issues in servers, raising concerns among customers about their ability to timely activate new data centers. According to The Information, the Blackwell graphics processing units (GPUs) are overheating when connected to server racks designed to accommodate 72 chips. Insiders reveal that NVIDIA's engineering team is actively addressing this issue, and the company's staff have already begun...

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, the demand for electricity is continuously increasing. According to a recent report by Gartner, newly installed servers consumed 195 terawatt-hours of electricity last year, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 18 million households. This figure is expected to soar to 500 terawatt-hours by 2027, roughly the annual electricity demand of 46 million households. Image source note: The image is generated by AI, and the image licensing service provider Midjourney. Furthermore, existing data centers consumed electricity in 2022.

Cisco Systems recently launched two data center devices optimized for artificial intelligence (AI) models at a partner event in Los Angeles. These new systems will further enhance Cisco's hardware product lineup to help enterprises efficiently handle AI-related workloads. The first product line introduced is the UCS C885A M8 series servers, which can support up to eight graphics processing units (GPUs), providing robust computing power for enterprise users. Cisco offers three GPU options for this series.

DataBank, a data center developer based in the United States, has successfully raised nearly AUD 3 billion (approximately USD 2.01 billion) to build three new data center facilities in the United States. The lead investor in this round of financing is AustralianSuper, the largest superannuation fund in Australia. Image source note: Photo generated by AI, image licensed by Midjourney. AustralianSuper stated on Wednesday that it has invested in DataBank's financing plan.

Recently, Google announced an agreement with nuclear startup Kairos Power to build seven small nuclear reactors to power its data centers. This collaboration will provide approximately 500 megawatts of zero-carbon power to Google's operations, amid a surge in energy demand from data centers and artificial intelligence. According to Google, these new power plants are expected to be operational by the end of 2030. However, it remains unclear how these reactors will be...

Recently, OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman held an important meeting at the White House with U.S. government officials, discussing the necessity of constructing large-scale data centers in America. Each of these data centers could consume as much electricity as a small city. OpenAI believes that such expansion is crucial for advancing more sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) models and is an important measure to ensure the United States maintains its leading position in the global technology competition. Image source note: Image generated by AI, image licensed by service provider.

Google has recently issued a warning that the UK may fall behind in the global artificial intelligence (AI) race, particularly if the government does not expedite the construction of data centers and ease restrictions on the use of copyrighted works. Google UK’s managing director, Derby Weinstein, stated that while the government recognizes the opportunities in AI, more policies are needed to promote its application. Image Source Note: The image is AI-generated, with authorization from the service provider Midjourney. Weinstein noted that the UK ranks only seventh in the global AI readiness index, which is behind other countries.

In today's rapidly advancing world of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, Microsoft and BlackRock have taken a significant step forward. The two giants announced the joint launch of a fund exceeding $30 billion, focusing on AI infrastructure investment, primarily covering data centers and energy projects. This major announcement was made on Tuesday and immediately generated a tremendous response in the global tech and finance circles. With the continuous advancement of AI technology, particularly the widespread application of deep learning and large-scale data processing models, the demand for computing power has shown explosive growth.

Recently, AI chip company Groq, based in California, has reached a partnership agreement with Saudi Arabia's oil giant Aramco to establish a large data center in Saudi Arabia. The aim of this data center is to enhance Saudi Arabia's capabilities in the field of artificial intelligence and further promote the diversification of the country's economy. Groq's CEO, Jonathan Ross, stated that the data center is expected to be operational by the end of the year, initially equipped with 19,000 Language Processing Units (LPUs). Image source note: Picture

Recently, an analysis by The Guardian revealed that there may be serious misleading practices by tech companies in handling the environmental impact of their AI data centers. The emission data reported by tech giants like Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Apple significantly diverges from reality. According to this analysis, the actual emissions from these companies are 662% higher than the figures they officially disclose, and this is just the tip of the iceberg, as this study only covers data from 2020 to 2022. Image source note: Image generated by AI, image licensed from service provider Midjou.

Amazon's cloud computing division - Amazon Web Services (AWS) recently announced that they will invest $10 billion over the next five years to build, operate, and maintain data centers in the UK. Image source note: The image is AI generated and authorized by the provider Midjourney. This decision marks Amazon's further expansion in the UK, where the company established its first AWS region back in 2016, which includes centralized data centers. Additionally, AWS has three availability zones and two Waves in the UK.

The rapid development of AI technology has propelled GPUs to become a hot commodity worldwide, with Nvidia reporting significant growth in the second quarter, exceeding $30 billion in revenue. However, powerful GPUs require adequate data centers to support the AI demand. Nvidia, along with partners, is investing $160 million in Applied Digital to expedite the construction of data centers in North Dakota, aiming to provide data center and cloud services around Nvidia's GPUs. The construction of data centers is crucial, as GPUs are expensive.

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, the power consumption of data centers has received widespread attention, but their water consumption has also surged dramatically, posing a challenge to the sustainability goals of tech companies. Taking Virginia as an example, since 2019, water usage in data centers has skyrocketed by nearly 64%, with consumption exceeding 7 billion liters in 2023, handling approximately 70% of global internet traffic. High water consumption mainly stems from cooling systems and equipment maintenance needs. The expansion of AI technology has intensified pressure on water resources, prompting tech companies to optimize water usage strategies for sustainable development.