Digital Realty's chief technology officer Chris Sharp says the data centre industry is moving away from copper for internal networking, though not electrical power or cooling systems. A typical 100MW facility uses around 400 tonnes of copper overall, with up to 20 tonnes used specifically in the wiring that connects servers together. Sharp argues this copper wiring between GPUs and CPUs is now a bottleneck limiting performance.
Apple has reopened a section of its Apple Park Visitor Center after a summer renovation, revealing that the augmented reality exhibit—which let visitors use custom iPads to explore a 3D model of the campus—has been removed. That area has been converted into an extension of the adjoining Apple Store, with new display tables and wall displays for accessories. The cafe and the rest of the Visitor Center remain unchanged.
A communications failure at the FAA's Philadelphia air traffic control facility knocked out radar and communications for hours on Monday, after its primary line failed and a backup fiber optic line was accidentally cut by railroad construction crews. The disruption halted flights at Newark, LaGuardia, JFK and Philadelphia airports, with over 600 Newark flights and more than 200 Philadelphia flights canceled before operations gradually resumed by evening.
Warren Buffett, who stepped down as Berkshire Hathaway's chairman last week, built his fortune avoiding flashy AI stocks in favor of utilities and industrial firms. Two of those older deals — the 2000 purchase of MidAmerican Energy and the 2016 acquisition of Precision Castparts — are now benefiting from AI's surging demand for electricity and turbines, according to analysts cited by CNN.
A Data & Society report, based on 18 months of ethnographic interviews with 44 Pennsylvanians, examines why communities are resisting new data center construction despite state officials touting billions in AI infrastructure investment. The researchers found residents grappling with contradictions between promises of economic growth and concerns over energy, land use, and broader AI risks, rather than being swayed by disinformation campaigns.
Nvidia-backed space data center startup Starcloud says it will include Bitcoin mining ASICs on its Starcloud-2 satellite, set to launch later this year, according to CEO Philip Johnston. The company was originally founded to move AI data centers into orbit, leveraging constant solar power and space-based cooling, but is now adding crypto mining as a secondary use of that energy.
A review of recent AI industry announcements about hacking incidents, mathematical breakthroughs, and self-improving systems finds that expert scrutiny often reveals a much less dramatic reality than initial company statements suggested. The pattern shows companies generating significant press attention through bold claims, which later prove overstated once independent analysis occurs. Separately, 22 nations have called for a new global body to set AI safety standards, though the US and China are notably absent from this declaration.
Timnit Gebru argues that AI companies use terms like 'superintelligence' and 'rogue models' to shift blame from corporate decisions onto their products, framing them as autonomous agents. She contends this rhetoric distracts from real harms, including data center pollution, plagiarism, and unauthorized data use for training.
Nvidia-backed startup Starcloud says it will fly dedicated Bitcoin mining hardware on its second satellite, Starcloud-2, targeting an early 2027 launch. CEO Philip Johnston argues that ASIC chips are far cheaper per kilowatt than GPUs, and that abundant orbital solar power could make space mining economically appealing, following the company's earlier Starcloud-1 test that put an Nvidia H100 GPU into orbit.
Data Center Watch, a research initiative from 10a Labs, reports that 45 large-scale data center projects worth $68 billion were blocked or delayed in the second quarter due to community pushback. The group tracked 843 opposition groups across 49 states, with only Hawaii lacking any organized resistance, and noted 30 state legislatures have introduced or passed measures on data center siting, power and water use.
Anthropic and OpenAI are pursuing agreements for existing, smaller data center facilities with roughly 20-30 MW of capacity in the UK, Nordic countries and the US, according to a CNBC report citing sources familiar with the talks. This comes even as both companies have already committed tens of billions of dollars toward massive gigawatt-scale AI infrastructure projects, including Anthropic's $45 billion Nscale deal and OpenAI's expanding Stargate commitments.
Morphotonics, a Netherlands-based nanoimprint lithography company that makes waveguide displays for AR glasses, has raised €40 million to scale production and expand into optical components for data centers. The round included 3M Ventures, Innovation Industries, BOM, Invest-NL, the European Innovation Council Fund, a Dutch family office, and the European Investment Bank. The funding extends a round that began in 2024 as the company rides growing demand for smart glasses displays.
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