In Middle East and Africa data center news, the UAE committed $1 billion for a new AI for Development initiative to support and finance artificial intelligence projects in African countries. These concerns have become a political headache for Republicans – Donald Trump has been a vocal supporter of the AI industry – with much of the opposition coming from rural, more conservative areas. Large datacenters, some the size of small towns, can require up to 5m gallons of water a day, equivalent to the water use of up to 50,000 people, in order to provide cooling to arrays of humming networked computers.
Data center developers and tech giants argue the projects benefit communities by creating new jobs and boosting local economic development through increased property tax revenue and future business opportunities. Carol Kauffman, CEO of the Ohio Environmental Council, said communities need to think holistically about how much water, power or other resources are dedicated to data centers. The new Edged facility in New Albany uses zero water for cooling, a technology the company estimates will save 92 million gallons of water each year at its 206,000-square-foot facility compared to a traditional data center of the same size. Its 2025 report shows the New Albany facility withdrew the equivalent of about 22.7 million gallons throughout 2024.
“I thought it was so valuable that people, just general communities, had this information,” said Doda, who now lives in Silicon Valley. Data Center Watch advises rising opposition to the industry may be best seen in Virginia, where economic development https://sellrentcars.com/developments officials boast hosting the largest data center market in the world and is home to 150 operations. Data Center Watch, a tracking site for the industry, reports projects totaling $18 billion were blocked, and projects totaling $6 billion were delayed over the past two years in the face of opposition from residents and activist groups.
Pushback from lawmakers, governors
A new report from the IEA assesses how the relationship between energy and artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving rapidly, drawing on the latest data and analysis and close tracking of technological and economic developments in the AI sector. “I don’t know exactly what’s happening here, but they probably don’t want to upset one of their new and largest customers,” said Pierce, who is studying the growing grip data centers have on local water systems. Gregory Pierce, director of the UCLA Water Resources Group, said it’s unusual that the utility didn’t fine the data center for breaking the rules. “It’s just frustrating to see them come into our community and run all over us like the citizens don’t matter, and then they’re above the law when they do break it,” Clifton said.
North American Data Center Developments
- In the UK, OpenAI has paused its planned multi-billion-pound Stargate UK data center project, citing concerns over high energy costs and regulation.
- CHICAGO, Feb. 17, 2025 – The North America data center industry has reached an inflection point, with vacancy locked at a record-low 1% for the second consecutive year as the sector’s extraordinary expansion fundamentally redraws the industry landscape.
- The neighbors of a data center in Georgia are steaming after they discovered the facility had sucked up nearly 30 million gallons of water — without initially paying for it.
- A moratorium “would limit internet capacity, slow critical services, eliminate hundreds of thousands of high-wage jobs, drain billions in local tax revenue and raise costs for American families and small businesses,” said Cy McNeill, the coalition’s senior director of federal affairs.
- Looking ahead, projects scheduled for 2027 exceed 25 GW, but less than 10 GW is currently being built.
- Musk announced that his space-launch company, SpaceX, which had recently merged with his artificial intelligence company, xAI, would put data centers into orbit around the Earth.
Of 809 planned datacenters, 517 are in locations that have been in drought conditions throughout the past year, according to data from Cleanview and the federal government, which grades drought across four levels of severity. A gravel road stretches through the area where the Stratos Project, a proposed data center, will be built in Box Elder County near Snowville, Utah. Some high-profile figures in the data center game, including Jeff Bezos and Kevin O’Leary, have tried to sway public opinion. Protesters have swarmed community meetings, launched petitions, and even taken legal action to stop data center developments in recent months.
Some states move to ban data centers
Those opposition groups were successful in blocking or delaying two out of every three projects they protested, the report said, “underscoring the growing impact of organized local resistance.” The researchers tracked “active opposition efforts” in 17 states, with 53 different groups taking action against 30 projects. Meanwhile, Meta is running a TV ad in markets around the country in which a longtime resident of Altoona, Iowa, praises the company for opening a data center in the town, saying it brought different kinds of jobs there, according to AdImpact, an ad-tracking firm. Leaders in both parties are locked in competition to encourage tech giants to put sprawling data centers in their states, looking for an economic leg up and an innovation edge in the early days of the artificial intelligence boom. Voters grapple with data centers and rising electricity costs in November elections
- In the Middle East, Dutch developer Volt has entered the Dubai market through a joint venture to develop a 29 MW data center at Dubai Silicon Oasis, with plans to scale the site to 129 MW as demand for AI infrastructure accelerates.
- KSDK-TV reported the project was killed after a petition to “Stop the Hazardous Data Center” was signed by 5,000 residents in just one week and “No Data Center” fliers were mailed throughout the city of over 70,000.
- They’re concerned about public handouts in the form of tax breaks that are going to data center developers, and they’re also aware that data centers don’t bring meaningful economic development, especially in the form of jobs.
- The technology company seeks to build its network beyond markets in the U.S., Canada, and Saudi Arabia.
“We are all, more and more, consuming technology and data and these data centers are going to get built,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said June 2, one day after she attended the groundbreaking for a $16 billion hyperscale data center campus. Residents in Ohio and Georgia warn data centers threaten water, health and utility costs as opposition grows nationwide. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board intervened in a four-reactor proposal from Dow and X-energy in Calhoun County, allowing formal opposition on financial-qualification grounds. Fresh analysis from JLL indicates the North American data center industry is entering a new expansion phase propelled by hyperscale and AI demand. Market activity remained intense, with consolidation and hyperscale expansion shaping the North American industry. To keep you informed about the latest data center news involving design, construction, power, and investment developments, we bring you the highlights from the past month.
KSDK-TV reported the project was killed after a petition to “Stop the Hazardous Data Center” was signed by 5,000 residents in just one week and “No Data Center” fliers were mailed throughout the city of over 70,000. St. Charles, Missouri, meanwhile, lists itself as the first municipality to declare a citywide ban on data centers after residents’ protests against a secretive data center proposal titled “Project Cumulus.” The moratoriums, reported by Georgia Public Radio, coincide with 26 data centers being built and another 52 planned within 60 miles of Atlanta. http://articlesss.com/category/business/small-business/ Where a “big” data center was once roughly the size of a football field, some of the new AI facilities will cover an area comparable to Central Park in Manhattan. There’s a perception there, and I get the perception, but it’s not actually true,” said Wright, Trump’s energy secretary, at a news conference earlier this month.