All the latest updates on AI data centers

Originally published by The Verge Social

Massive new data centers are the physical foundation for tech companies’ hopes and dreams for AI. But the rush to expand warehouses full of energy-hungry servers has also kicked up fights across the world over their impact on power grids, utility bills, nearby communities, and the environment.

From audacious plans tolaunch data centers into spaceto the latestlegal battlesover pollution,The Vergehas the biggest news and reporting surrounding data centers.

• May 6Jay Peters43 percent of Americans blame data centers as a major reason for rising power bills.That’s according toa new Pew Research Center survey. Similar numbers of both Republicans and Democrats also cite data centers, which are quickly becominga bipartisan issue, as a major reason for higher costs.Many Americans hold utility companies responsible for their rising home energy bills[Pew Research Center]

That’s according toa new Pew Research Center survey. Similar numbers of both Republicans and Democrats also cite data centers, which are quickly becominga bipartisan issue, as a major reason for higher costs.

[Pew Research Center]

• May 5Jay PetersA 40,000-acre data center project was just approved in Utah, despite outcry from the community.Asreported byThe Salt Lake Tribune, the planned hyperscale data center in Box Elder County, when fully completed, is expected to use 9 gigawatts of power — more than double the 4 gigawatts of power used by the state right now. The project is backed in part byShark Tankinvestor Kevin O’Leary.

Asreported byThe Salt Lake Tribune, the planned hyperscale data center in Box Elder County, when fully completed, is expected to use 9 gigawatts of power — more than double the 4 gigawatts of power used by the state right now. The project is backed in part byShark Tankinvestor Kevin O’Leary.

• Apr 27Jess WeatherbedA political battleground is forming around data centers.Multibillion-dollar data center developmentsin Georgia are sparking bipartisan backlash, withPoliticoreporting that 47 percent of local voters oppose the plans. Given this is just one ofseveral states experiencing an AI boom, similar opposition may also define local and statewide elections going forward.Georgia’s battleground races give a first look at a brewing political storm[Politico]

Multibillion-dollar data center developmentsin Georgia are sparking bipartisan backlash, withPoliticoreporting that 47 percent of local voters oppose the plans. Given this is just one ofseveral states experiencing an AI boom, similar opposition may also define local and statewide elections going forward.

• Apr 16Jess WeatherbedAre AI data centers coming to your area?This free, crowd-sourcedtracker websiteis one of the most comprehensive attempts we’ve seen to keep tabs on where new data centers are being proposed. Maps are currently available across 18 states, with data compiled from public sources. You can read about the Data Center Proposal Tracker creator’s methodologyhere.Here’s a screenshot from the tracker showing sites around NYC.Image: trackdatacenters.com

This free, crowd-sourcedtracker websiteis one of the most comprehensive attempts we’ve seen to keep tabs on where new data centers are being proposed. Maps are currently available across 18 states, with data compiled from public sources. You can read about the Data Center Proposal Tracker creator’s methodologyhere.

• Apr 15Emma RothData centers will soon have to complete “mandatory” energy usage surveys.The plans, which were revealed in a letter seen byWired, come in response toa bipartisan pushto find out how much energy data centers are sucking up. The Energy Information Administration reportedly plans to launch the nationwide surveys after it wraps up pilot surveys in data center-heavy areas, such as Texas, Washington state, Washington DC, and northern Virginia.The US Government Will Ask Data Centers How Much Power They Use[WIRED]

The plans, which were revealed in a letter seen byWired, come in response toa bipartisan pushto find out how much energy data centers are sucking up. The Energy Information Administration reportedly plans to launch the nationwide surveys after it wraps up pilot surveys in data center-heavy areas, such as Texas, Washington state, Washington DC, and northern Virginia.

• Apr 15Andrew J. Hawkins“A data center should not be a potential death sentence for a community’s health.”The NAACP issuing xAIto block Elon Musk’s Colossus 2 data center project outside of Memphis, TN, claiming that the project is operating 27 gas turbines without an air permit and in violation of the Clean Air Act.“By looking to evade clear air laws to operate dirty turbines that emit pollution and known carcinogens, these companies are following a shameful, familiar pattern: asking Black and frontline communities to bear the toxic brunt of ‘innovation,” said Abre’ Conner, NAACP Director of Environmental and Climate Justice.NAACP lawsuit accuses Elon Musk’s xAI of polluting Black neighborhoods near Memphis[The Guardian]

The NAACP issuing xAIto block Elon Musk’s Colossus 2 data center project outside of Memphis, TN, claiming that the project is operating 27 gas turbines without an air permit and in violation of the Clean Air Act.

“By looking to evade clear air laws to operate dirty turbines that emit pollution and known carcinogens, these companies are following a shameful, familiar pattern: asking Black and frontline communities to bear the toxic brunt of ‘innovation,” said Abre’ Conner, NAACP Director of Environmental and Climate Justice.

“By looking to evade clear air laws to operate dirty turbines that emit pollution and known carcinogens, these companies are following a shameful, familiar pattern: asking Black and frontline communities to bear the toxic brunt of ‘innovation,” said Abre’ Conner, NAACP Director of Environmental and Climate Justice.

• Apr 6Emma RothIran threatens OpenAI’s Stargate data center in Abu DhabiAn October 2025 image of OpenAI’s UAE Stargate data center under construction.Image: G42Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has published a video threatening OpenAI’s planned Abu Dhabi data center if the US follows through on threats to attack the country’s power plants, as reportedearlier byTom’s Hardware. The video, which was published to anIranian state-backed news outlet’s X accounton April 3rd, says the IRGC will carry out the “complete and utter annihilation” of US-linked energy and technology companies in the region, before showing an image ofOpenAI’s $30 billion in-progress Stargate facilityin the United Arab Emirates.OpenAI’s overarching$500 billion Stargate projectincludes investments from Oracle, Nvidia, Cisco, and SoftBank. It’s not clear how much of the Abu Dhabi data center is actually finished, asan October 2025 updateshowed the beginnings of the facilities that will contain 16 gigawatts of compute power. The update said construction was “well underway” and would meet its target of deploying 200 megawatts in 2026. OpenAI didn’t immediately respond toThe Verge’s request for comment.Read Article >

Iran threatens OpenAI’s Stargate data center in Abu Dhabi

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has published a video threatening OpenAI’s planned Abu Dhabi data center if the US follows through on threats to attack the country’s power plants, as reportedearlier byTom’s Hardware. The video, which was published to anIranian state-backed news outlet’s X accounton April 3rd, says the IRGC will carry out the “complete and utter annihilation” of US-linked energy and technology companies in the region, before showing an image ofOpenAI’s $30 billion in-progress Stargate facilityin the United Arab Emirates.

OpenAI’s overarching$500 billion Stargate projectincludes investments from Oracle, Nvidia, Cisco, and SoftBank. It’s not clear how much of the Abu Dhabi data center is actually finished, asan October 2025 updateshowed the beginnings of the facilities that will contain 16 gigawatts of compute power. The update said construction was “well underway” and would meet its target of deploying 200 megawatts in 2026. OpenAI didn’t immediately respond toThe Verge’s request for comment.

• Mar 26Stevie BonifieldSenators are pushing to find out how much electricity data centers actually useAn Amazon data center in Oregon.Image: AmazonOn Thursday, senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Josh Hawley (R-MO)sent a letterto the Energy Information Administration (EIA) asking it to collect “comprehensive, annual energy-use disclosures” on data centers and make that information publicly available, as first reported byWired. They’re urging the agency to “establish a mandatory annual reporting requirement for data centers,” saying the data is “essential for accurate grid planning,” and ensuring the seven tech companies thatsigned the Ratepayer Protection Pledge earlier this monthadhere to their commitments.The EIA announced Wednesday that it’slaunching a voluntary pilot programto evaluate data center energy use in Texas, Washington, Northern Virginia, and Washington, DC. What Warren and Hawley are calling for in their letter is broader, mandatory reporting on data center energy consumption.Read Article >

Senators are pushing to find out how much electricity data centers actually use

On Thursday, senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Josh Hawley (R-MO)sent a letterto the Energy Information Administration (EIA) asking it to collect “comprehensive, annual energy-use disclosures” on data centers and make that information publicly available, as first reported byWired. They’re urging the agency to “establish a mandatory annual reporting requirement for data centers,” saying the data is “essential for accurate grid planning,” and ensuring the seven tech companies thatsigned the Ratepayer Protection Pledge earlier this monthadhere to their commitments.

The EIA announced Wednesday that it’slaunching a voluntary pilot programto evaluate data center energy use in Texas, Washington, Northern Virginia, and Washington, DC. What Warren and Hawley are calling for in their letter is broader, mandatory reporting on data center energy consumption.

• Mar 24Richard LawlerArm’s first CPU ever will plug into Meta’s AI data centers later this yearImage: ArmAfter decades of only licensing its chip designs for others to use, UK-based Armrevealed the first chipit’s producing on its own, and the first customer. Dubbed the Arm AGI CPU, it’s another chip designed for inference, or running the cloud processing for AI tools like AI agents that can continue to spawn more and more tasks to run at once. The first company in line to use it is Meta, which hasreportedly struggledto launch its own AI chips.Metasays it’s both the lead partner and co-developer, and plans to work on “multiple generations” of the data center CPUs, for use along with hardware from other vendors likeNvidiaandAMD. Arm customers like Amazon AWS, Microsoft, Google, Marvell, Nvidia, Samsung, and others included congratulatory notes with the announcement. However, Qualcomm, which said it had achieved “complete victory” over Armwith a court ruling last fallin their case over the terms of licensing agreements, was not one of them.Read Article >

Arm’s first CPU ever will plug into Meta’s AI data centers later this year

After decades of only licensing its chip designs for others to use, UK-based Armrevealed the first chipit’s producing on its own, and the first customer. Dubbed the Arm AGI CPU, it’s another chip designed for inference, or running the cloud processing for AI tools like AI agents that can continue to spawn more and more tasks to run at once. The first company in line to use it is Meta, which hasreportedly struggledto launch its own AI chips.

Metasays it’s both the lead partner and co-developer, and plans to work on “multiple generations” of the data center CPUs, for use along with hardware from other vendors likeNvidiaandAMD. Arm customers like Amazon AWS, Microsoft, Google, Marvell, Nvidia, Samsung, and others included congratulatory notes with the announcement. However, Qualcomm, which said it had achieved “complete victory” over Armwith a court ruling last fallin their case over the terms of licensing agreements, was not one of them.

• Mar 24Justine CalmaLake Tahoe has to look for a new power source as data center demand soars.Facing “unprecedented times,” NV Energy has decided to stop selling power to a small power utility serving 49,000 customers in Lake Tahoe,CalMattersreports. Data center requests are driving a tripling of expected peak power demand,according to NV Energy.Lake Tahoe isn’t sure where it’s power will come from after the next ski season[CalMatters]

Facing “unprecedented times,” NV Energy has decided to stop selling power to a small power utility serving 49,000 customers in Lake Tahoe,CalMattersreports. Data center requests are driving a tripling of expected peak power demand,according to NV Energy.

• Mar 10Justine CalmaHow the spiraling Iran conflict could affect data centers and electricity costsA commercial ship is viewed anchored off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, in the Strait of Hormuz, Dubai, on March 2nd, 2026. Increased maritime traffic led to a buildup of vessels waiting near Dubai, highlighting the strategic importance of the strait, which handles 20 percent of global energy trade.Photo: Getty ImagesSoon after the Trump administration launched its war on Iran, I called up Reed Blakemore, director of research and programs at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center, totalk about the consequences. While oil and gas prices were already on the rise, there was still more hope then that the impact of the conflict might be short-lived. At the end of our conversation, Blakemore said plainly: “Let’s have a call again [next week] … We’ll have a much clearer picture of what the conflict is going to look like and what the story really is going to be for energy moving forward.”It’s a week later and the conflict has only escalated since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah ​Ali Khamenei.Energy infrastructurehas become a key leverage point in the unfolding war, withIsrael hitting Iranian fuel depotsandIran targeting Gulf neighbors’ oil and gas infrastructurein its own strikes. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened on Tuesday not to “not allow the export of even a single liter of oil from the region to the hostile side and its partners until further notice.” Iran has reportedly also started tolay mines in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth ofglobal petroleum consumptionandliquefied natural gas (LNG) tradeused to move.Read Article >

How the spiraling Iran conflict could affect data centers and electricity costs

Soon after the Trump administration launched its war on Iran, I called up Reed Blakemore, director of research and programs at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center, totalk about the consequences. While oil and ga

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