Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?
This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.
Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
I dont think space is a concern in any large scale area like a country or a state (by anyone non-retarded anyway), but it can be a local concern.
Imagine if you will that data centers have been built in some old industrial area that regular industry has left. There was land prepared away from residential areas, there is power, grid and all sorts of appropriate infrastructure excess that is ready to go.
The data center operators now want to massively expand to meet the demands of AI and they obviously would prefer to do so in close proximity to their original development. Only they have used up the old industrial space so now expansion will start encroaching on areas dedicated to other things or get closer to residential areas where things like noise will be a concern.
In these sorts of cases space can very much be a concern even if it in the context of the larger stage/country wouldn't be. It is appropriate local space that can be scarce, not space in general.
I freely admit I may be biased by how Finland is, but I just don't see that happening to any meaningful extent. Perhaps this is due to planning differences or simply population distribution, but at least over here the union of "old industrial area", "not enough space nearby for expansion" and "cheap enough lot to make building a datacenter from scratch attractive in the first place" is roughly a null set. Any such old industrial areas near (more than a few individual) residential homes that would be at all attractive to datacenter operators are already economically unattractive due to either being valued higher for residential expansion or having abundant vacant land in other nearby sites.
More options
Context Copy link
"Replace shuttered Rust Belt factories with new data centers" has IMO a bit of a nice-sounding vibe to it. Less clear if the infrastructure would be what you want -- less a railyard and more a substation. The telecom connections are probably the easy part. But I don't live in the Rust Belt, so it's not me you'd need to sell on the idea. The "and you have to clean up the Superfund site" is probably a sticking point, too.
Agreed. I see data centers more as something between commercial and very light industrial sites, something like warehouses but with more electricity / telecoms / capital investment need.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link