Breaking down the true cost of AI data centers' rapid growth across America

Business Insider

17 hours ago

Welcome back to our Sunday edition, where we round up some of our top stories and take you inside our newsroom. BI's Jake Epstein spent the night aboard a US Navy destroyer traveling from England to France. He said the space was tight, as he got a taste of what daily life is like.
By the way, you can get the latest on modern warfare, defense tech innovations, and more with BI's new Defense Flash delivered to your inbox every week. Sign up here!
On the agenda today:
Inside Silicon Valley's $100 million salary divide.
It's the age of the "Zillow Ban." Here's what homeowners should do.
Amazon rolls out a stricter performance review process, BI exclusively reports.
Wall Streeters told BI the hottest restaurants, bars, and clubs in the Hamptons.
But first: BI has the receipts on the impact of AI data.
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This week's dispatch
John-David Richardson for BI
Tallying the full costs of AI
To fulfill the promise of AI, data centers have sprung up around the country, using water, land, and electricity to deliver computing power for the booming tech.
A team of BI reporters and editors sought to quantify the spread of these centers and show the impact on their surroundings. I chatted with two lead reporters on the project, Hannah Beckler and Dakin Campbell, about their takeaways.
Hannah, Dakin, in a nutshell, how many data centers are there in the United States, and how fast is the boom happening?
There are 1,240 data centers either built or approved for construction in the United States. That's four times as many as there were in 2010.
What is the biggest worry with the spread of data centers — the green space they use, the water, the electricity? And if these concerns are urgent, why aren't towns pushing back?
Electricity and water use are large concerns because they are limited resources. But data centers often bring tax revenue, which towns use to build roads, schools, and fire stations. Public officials have been caught in the middle, with some towns pushing back and others openly welcoming the industry with tax breaks.
AI could usher in tremendous benefits, from business savings to life-saving science. Many also argue that a leading AI industry bolsters national security. For nearby property owners, the benefits are typically the tax revenue their towns collect, short-term jobs in construction (which can also bring road congestion), and perhaps a few dozen longer-term tech jobs in their community.
For the future, what are the most important issues about data centers that people should be watching?
The largest tech firms understand that public opinion is mixed about their use of resources like power and water, and they are taking steps to improve their efficiency. It will be critical to see whether they will find ways to use less water and more renewable energy.
Big Tech's winner-take-all era
In Silicon Valley, companies like Meta and OpenAI are offering eye-popping pay packages to technical hires to secure the best talent in the AI race.
At the same time, however, rank-and-file tech workers are being laid off by the thousands. The result is an uneven shift that's going all-in on AI while squeezing other areas of innovation.
The great salary divide.
The "Zillow Ban" is here
Zillow's new policy blacklists any homes that are shared publicly by an agent without being posted to the local databases that inform the rest of the real estate industry. It's part of Zillow's ongoing battle against big brokerages to crack down on "exclusive inventory" — home listings that are shared in some places but not others.
The fight leaves homebuyers and sellers in a weird spot, but not a powerless one. The rules of the game are changing, and consumers should know exactly what they're getting from their agents and how much they'll be paying them, writes BI's James Rodriguez.
What homebuyers should do.
Amazon toughens up reviews
How do you measure culture? That's a question Amazon managers will now have to deal with, thanks to a new performance review process the Big Tech company is instituting.
Starting this mid-year review cycle, Amazon managers will use a three-tier system to rank how employees demonstrate the company's core values, which it calls Leadership Principles, in their work, per an internal memo seen by BI's Eugene Kim.
It's the first time company culture is formally part of reviews.
Hot spots in the Hamptons
The Hamptons have long been a favorite summer outpost for Wall Street's bankers and traders. BI spoke to current and former finance industry professionals, as well as some Hamptons locals and business proprietors, to find the buzziest spots out east.
Montauk's Surf Lodge was the most mentioned, but insiders also named scene-y restaurants like Le Bilboquet and low-key sites like Shinnecock, an ultra-exclusive golf club.
See the list.
This week's quote:
"You are in a job interview for the whole internship."
— Wendy Lewis, managing partner of KPMG's Richmond, Virginia office, on her advice for Big Four summer interns looking to stand out.
More of this week's top reads:
Everyone is saying AI will reshape banking. A new report forecasts exactly how much.
4 signs the economy is in worse shape than we thought.
What Diddy's guilty verdict and civil suits mean for his net worth, music catalog, and brands.
Generative AI is making running an online business a nightmare.
Most Americans aren't paying attention to a key part of retirement that has nothing to do with investing.
Leaked docs show how Meta is training its chatbots to message you first, remember your chats, and keep you talking.
4 ways Trump's 'big beautiful' tax bill could affect your wallet.