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In a Fast Company panel discussion, Andrew Beebe of Obvious and Michael Obradovitch of Ecolab, moderated by Kristin Toussaint, discussed the electricity and water demands of data centers built to support AI. The panelists addressed topics including renewable energy, grid resilience, cooling technology, and water conservation as ways to manage the infrastructure's growing footprint.
A year-long investigation by Lighthouse Report, Trouw and other European media found that most data centers in Europe do not disclose their electricity and water consumption, despite an EU directive requiring larger facilities to report such data. In the Netherlands, fewer than a quarter of the 186 commercial data centers with capacity of 500 kW or more have published usage figures, and the national agency tasked with collecting this data has records for only 104 of them.
A gathering billed as a 'pro-data center party,' organized by journalist Jonas Du and nonprofit Young Voices, was held at a Washington, DC bar over the weekend. Protesters interrupted the event multiple times, shouting objections before being escorted out by security amid boos and chants from attendees. Protesters later said they oppose data centers because of rising energy bills tied to the facilities.
President Trump announced a 'morally binding' agreement called the Joint Commitment On Frontier Responsibilities, signed by executives including Elon Musk, Sam Altman's OpenAI cofounder Greg Brockman, Dario Amodei, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai and Jensen Huang. The deal asks companies to maintain internal safety controls and work with external auditors, and Trump said a board would oversee compliance, though no members were named. Trump also signed an executive order renaming artificial intelligence as 'superintelligence' and reaffirmed his backing of data center expansion.
Average consumer memory prices have risen sharply since last September, with 2TB NVMe SSDs up 137%, 32GB DDR5 kits up 363%, and some 64GB DDR5-6000 kits up nearly 500%. High-capacity RAM like 128GB and 512GB ECC kits has become scarce or drastically more expensive, and a 4TB Samsung SSD that cost $390 in 2024 now runs $1,100. IDC data cited alongside these figures shows smartphone average selling prices are also expected to climb 27.6% in 2026 amid falling shipments, while Apple has raised prices across much of its product line.
At this year's New York Climate Week, much of the climate tech industry's attention centered on the AI data center boom, with founders and investors pivoting toward energy infrastructure to power AI. PitchBook data cited shows climate tech venture funding has risen for four straight quarters, topping $14 billion in Q1 2025, driven largely by grid infrastructure, built environment, and dispatchable energy deals tied to data center construction. Some founders at the event expressed concern that this focus is overshadowing other promising climate tech sectors.
We Make Indiana, a coalition of 25 nonprofits, faith groups and civic organizations near South Bend, sought funding from Microsoft under the company's publicized commitment to invest in local nonprofits near its AI data centers. According to Ars Technica's reporting, Microsoft's community liaison did not commit to providing the requested support, leaving the group without the promised backing.
A commentary argues that the rapid expansion of AI computing infrastructure—chips, data centers, cloud systems and new power sources—needs applications that convert that capacity into real economic and human value. It points to medicine, particularly drug development, as a leading candidate for where that value could materialize.
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey said her administration will block data center developments in the state unless the host community explicitly approves them. The statement responds to growing local pushback against data center construction tied to a reported $170 billion wave of investment nationwide.
Church and community groups have pressed Microsoft to commit roughly 1% of its data center construction costs to local investment, but company representatives at community meetings have struggled to answer detailed questions beyond prepared 'good neighbor' talking points. Microsoft has acknowledged that its $229 million in 2024 employee-matched charitable giving across 29,000 nonprofits isn't sufficient, without specifying larger commitments.
A survey of residents in Northern Virginia, home to the world's largest concentration of data centers, found broad support for measures that would make data center development more transparent and accountable to the public. However, support was weaker for rules addressing more complicated aspects of data center operations, such as those researchers describe as complex regulatory issues.
A Brookings Institution study by Columbia Business School professor Stijn van Nieuwerburgh finds that AI infrastructure investment—chips, electricity and data centers—now averages 3.63% of US GDP per year, exceeding prior booms in canals, railroads, electrification and highways. The study estimates 183 gigawatts of new data-center capacity is planned over seven years, more than tripling the roughly 57 gigawatts currently installed, and projects this could double the electricity consumption of the entire US residential sector.