Following Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian data centers, a Cloudflare chart showing a drop in Yandex-related bot traffic spread widely on social media, with many assuming it showed Russian disinformation bots going offline. Researcher antibot4navalny says the data actually reflects a decline in Yandex's own web crawler activity, not social media bot farms, and that broader Russian bot traffic was largely unaffected. A separate chart claiming to show a drop in pro-AfD online activity, shared by EU lawmaker Tomáš Zdechovský, has been flagged by computer scientist Raphael Wimmer as possibly AI-generated.
theverge.com
· 2026-10-12
Data centers generate heat continuously, and researchers are examining ways to capture that excess warmth and store it underground using the earth's stable temperature, so it can later be drawn out to heat buildings during colder months. The approach relies on the fact that ground temperature a few hundred feet down stays near the local yearly average, roughly 50°F, regardless of surface conditions.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-10-12
Amazon announced it will stop using nondisclosure agreements when negotiating with local governments over new data centers, mirroring a similar move by Microsoft. The announcement appeared within a broader Amazon blog post arguing that data centers benefit the communities where they are built.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-11
Texas regulators are requiring data center projects to wait longer before connecting to the state's power grid, according to reporting referenced in the source. The move reflects growing concern over the strain that rapidly expanding data center demand is placing on Texas's electricity infrastructure.
a16z.com
· 2026-10-11
A new analysis from the Environment America Research and Policy Center, highlighted by Electrek, projects that gas-fired generator capacity in the US will grow by roughly 20 gigawatts, a 44 percent jump from today's 41.8 gigawatts, within four years. The report attributes much of this growth to surging electricity demand from AI data centers, and notes that planned wind farm capacity has fallen 34 percent since December 2025.
futurism.com
· 2026-10-11
WIRED reports that opposition to data centers has become a bipartisan midterm issue, with candidates on both sides attacking opponents over industry ties. In Ohio, Democrat Sherrod Brown has repeatedly labeled Senator Jon Husted 'the face of data centers' and blamed him for rising energy bills, while Senate Democrats blocked a Husted-sponsored ratepayer protection bill that Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called 'toothless.' The National Republican Senatorial Committee has internally flagged data centers as a potential 'sleeper issue' that could affect election outcomes.
wired.com
· 2026-10-11
Petra Power, founded in 2017, builds solid oxide fuel cells that convert fuel like natural gas directly into electricity without combustion. Founder Aaron Goodman says the devices cut fuel costs and emissions while being more compact than traditional power systems, and the company is pursuing deals with data center operators and the Defense Department. Goodman declined to name specific customers but said Petra is already working with neoclouds and infrastructure providers below the hyperscaler tier.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-10
According to this week's Tom's Hardware Premium roundup, Tencent has signed a five-year, $7 billion deal to lease high-performance AI chips from Oracle, with the per-hour rate roughly 43% cheaper than leasing an Nvidia H100 on a one-year contract. No specific chip model was confirmed, though the deal's scale and pricing suggest Hopper-class GPUs. Separately, Synopsys and OpenAI unveiled 'GPT-Synopsys,' an AI model combining Synopsys' chip design IP and EDA tools with OpenAI's LLM capabilities.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-10-10
A year-long Senate investigation found that AI data center developers have often exaggerated the community benefits of their projects while obscuring key figures. Companies reportedly tout construction job counts but withhold permanent staffing numbers, with some disclosing ratios as low as one permanent job per megawatt of capacity. The probe also examined sales-tax exemptions on computer equipment, which investigators say are more lucrative to companies than the property-tax breaks that typically draw public scrutiny.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-10-10
A shortage of computer RAM, informally dubbed 'RAMageddon,' is being driven in part by AI data centers consuming large quantities of memory chips. The shortage is pushing up prices for consumers and businesses that rely on RAM for computers and other devices.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-10-10
Ukraine struck Yandex data centers in Sasovo and Kaluga on October 8 and 9, knocking out two of the company's five facilities, according to Reuters. Firepoint's FP-1 drones hit the Kaluga site, Yandex's largest, while the Sasovo facility housed supercomputers used to train its YandexGPT AI model. Yandex reported no injuries but confirmed service disruptions, with Russian users unable to access apps including Ivi, T-Bank and Russian Railways.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-10-09
A new Wood Mackenzie report finds that four-hour battery storage systems cost less than open-cycle natural gas turbines in all 43 markets surveyed across every continent. The firm projects battery costs will keep falling while gas turbine electricity costs rise, partly due to AI data center developers buying up available turbines and driving procurement waits to two-to-four years, with closed-cycle models backlogged into the early 2030s. Separately, solar was found to be the cheapest new power source in every surveyed market, though tariffs and import restrictions are pressuring prices in North America.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-09
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