GoKawiil
Tech News
Apple has continued reducing its overall emissions even as it invests in AI infrastructure, a trend that contrasts with rivals whose emissions are rising due to power-hungry data centers. The company has previously pledged to become carbon neutral across its entire supply chain and product life cycle by 2030.
Google will launch its first Project Suncatcher test satellite, called MVP, on October 1 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 as part of the Transporter-18 rideshare mission. The refrigerator-sized craft carries four of Google's custom TPU AI chips and roughly one kilowatt of solar power, and it uses a spacecraft body built by satellite imagery firm Planet Labs rather than a custom-built Google design. The test mission will run for only a few months.
An Entrepreneur op-ed argues that electricity, not chip supply, is becoming the binding constraint on AI growth, citing IEA projections that global data-center power use could nearly double from 485 to 950 terawatt-hours by 2030, with AI-specific demand tripling. It notes that by 2027 a single advanced server rack could draw as much peak power as 65 households, and that grid constraints could delay roughly 20% of planned data-center projects.
In an interview on The Ezra Klein Show, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang argued that AI will require heavy fossil fuel use in the near term because renewable energy capacity is insufficient, likening the resulting pain to surgery necessary to save a patient. He also criticized the US for not building enough fossil fuel plants to meet AI's energy demands.
Google plans to launch a fridge-sized prototype satellite carrying roughly the computing power of one server, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as soon as October 1. The satellite is part of Project Suncatcher, an effort to test whether AI data center hardware can operate in orbit powered by continuous sunlight, and could remain in space for up to six years.
Elon Musk's companies, including Tesla, SpaceX and X, have concentrated major new capital projects—such as chip foundries, rocket launch facilities and data centers—across Sunbelt states. State governments are reportedly competing to attract these investments, which represent billions of dollars in planned spending.
Investment in AI data centers has surpassed the combined historical spending on canals, railroads and the electrical grid, according to reporting on the current buildout. The surge is generating jobs and lifting stock valuations tied to AI infrastructure, even as it strains construction resources and materials markets.
The Justice Department issued guidance stating that citizens and noncitizens engaging in public activity, including demonstrations, that furthers a foreign power's goals must register with the government or face criminal liability. Days earlier, President Trump posted on social media calling AI and data-center critics 'Conspiracy Theorists, Treasonists, Traitors, and Leakers' and linked opposition to AI development to China.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed seven bills requiring data center operators to disclose electricity and water consumption details starting next year. The legislation also directs the California Public Utilities Commission to create separate electricity rates for data centers so their grid connection costs aren't passed on to other ratepayers, and pushes facilities toward greater renewable energy use.
American Supercritical, a startup founded by Simon Shuham and others, emerged from stealth with $8 million in funding for technology that uses supercritical carbon dioxide to boost the efficiency of gas turbines powering data centers. The company plans to retrofit simple-cycle turbines—common at data centers but far less efficient than combined-cycle plants—so they generate more electricity without increasing fuel use, though the turbines will still emit carbon pollution from burning gas.
China's CAS Space launched the Kinetica 1 Y18 rocket on September 20, carrying nine satellites including the Supercomputing-1 (S-AIDC-1), built by S-AIDC. The satellite combines a high-resolution optical payload with an onboard AI computer to process Earth-observation data in orbit rather than transmitting raw data to ground-based data centers, reportedly cutting processing times from hours to minutes.
Residents in rural Texas towns like Bells are organizing against proposed AI data center developments, citing concerns over water use, noise, light pollution, rising utility bills and falling property values. The opposition, sparked by incidents like survey markers appearing near homes, has grown into public pushback at local meetings, with some communities moving to block or restrict such projects.