Some US data centers are standing empty because of a lack of electricity, highlighting challenges in keeping up with ballooning demand for AI.
One California facility, located in Nvidia’s hometown, has been awaiting energization for six years, Bloomberg reported; an energy company estimates large data centers could take up to seven years to come online. “The biggest barrier to progress isn’t money but energy,” an MIT Technology Review reporter noted, arguing the US could learn from China’s energy abundance.
The data center explosion has created boom towns across the US, but strained grids and increased housing prices and energy costs. Ironically, The Atlantic wrote, energy constraints could keep the AI boom from “growing too irresponsibly.”
