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Intel shares fell sharply after-hours following fourth-quarter guidance that badly missed Wall Street expectations. The company pointed to persistent weakness in PC demand and a fab explosion in Israel that CFO David Zinsner said will cost roughly $600 million in lost revenue over two quarters. Third-quarter results beat estimates, with data center and AI revenue up 78%, even as client computing revenue declined 5%.
At a Carroll County, Kentucky fiscal court meeting, residents played a recording of the loud, constant screeching sound emitted by a data center to protest two planned hyperscale data center projects, each expected to draw about 800 megawatts and cover roughly 1,000 acres. Magistrate Scott Nab, who supports the projects, told residents they had made their point, prompting pushback from the crowd. The recording was captured at a nearby five-megawatt facility, far smaller than the proposed Carroll County sites.
Oulu Police have launched a preliminary investigation into Google subsidiary Tuike Finland's data centre construction site in Muhos, following a referral from Finland's Supervisory Agency and five separate complaints. The case concerns suspected environmental damage linked to drainage and water-management failures at the site, part of Google's €13 billion Finland investment, and police expect the probe to run through 2027.
A report finds that air pollution from gas-fired power plants planned to supply Utah's Stratos data center could travel well beyond the state, reaching as far as Illinois. The Kevin O'Leary-backed project is projected to eventually consume 9 gigawatts of power, more than twice Utah's total annual electricity use, with that power largely generated by onsite gas combustion.
MZX, linked to xAI's Southaven data center operations, is offering to purchase homes near the facility, requiring sellers to sign a release waiving claims related to a pending lawsuit over noise and other grievances. MZX denies the allegations in the Haley lawsuit but says it needs the property for business purposes. Homeowners who accept the buyout and sign the release agreement would forfeit any right to recover damages or pursue further legal action tied to the plant.
Jim Cramer told CNBC viewers Tuesday that the two-day rally in AI stocks, sparked partly by a $63 billion financing package from banks and Blackstone backing Anthropic's purchase of Broadcom hardware, doesn't mean risks to the data-center trade have passed. He flagged continued borrowing stress at smaller 'neocloud' infrastructure firms like CoreWeave, Nebius and Iren, and questioned why Anthropic is financing its hardware purchases with debt rather than its own profits.
A sharp selloff has hit China's AI-related equities, with Goldman Sachs estimating such stocks make up 42% of total market capitalization and 57% of trading turnover. Traders cited elevated valuations, new tax bills, and fears that foreign governments could restrict exports of data center equipment to China as triggers, though no single catalyst was identified. Investment managers quoted by Reuters described the pullback as the bursting of a bubble built on overweighting tech firms in major indexes.
NBC reports that criminal groups have stolen more than $100 million worth of data center equipment in transit since June 2026, using tactics including account hacking, phishing, GPS spoofing, and vehicle ramming. Incidents cited include a $38 million theft in Reno this year, a $15 million heist of semiconductors and Apple products in July 2025, and separate June 2026 thefts of $13 million near the Mojave Desert and $10 million in server rack components bound for Texas. Stolen items include servers, cabling, RAM, drives, routers, and even copper wire worth hundreds of thousands of dollars per trailer.
NBC reporting details a wave of cargo thefts targeting servers and components headed to US data center construction sites, including a $13 million load stolen near Fayetteville, Georgia and a $10 million shipment taken in Texas. In both cases, thieves rammed police escort vehicles and tampered with GPS trackers before making off with the equipment. Investigators say roughly two dozen such thefts have occurred since last year, with some single shipments valued above $30 million.
Criminal groups are reportedly using GPS spoofing devices to trick fleet-tracking systems and steal truckloads of cargo destined for data centers, according to reports of highway thefts. The stolen goods are said to be worth millions of dollars, with thieves able to mask a truck's real location to delay detection and recovery.
Ukrainian drones struck a government data center near Gorodets, about 230 miles from Moscow, that reportedly processes data for Russia's Federal Tax Service. The facility is one of two geo-distributed centers handling tax records, and Russian media cited by Data Center Dynamics warned the damage could affect state information systems. The Finance Ministry reportedly operates two other data centers, in Dubna and Yerzovka.
Amazon has dropped plans to build four data centers on a 122-acre former George Washington University campus site in Loudoun County, Virginia, opting instead to redevelop most of the land for housing and mixed-use purposes. The company will donate 25 acres to the county for an arts center and recreational facility, plus $5 million toward local housing funds. The reversal follows talks between Amazon and county officials after residents raised concerns about noise and power demands from new data center construction in the area already known as 'Data Center Alley'.