AI requires a lot of energy and technology companies are already planning how to power their huge data centers. On the table there are such creative ideas as taking them to space or submerging them in the sea to reduce their consumption. Google has opted for a more immediate solution: it has purchased an electricity company for data centers.
The agreement. Google has purchased Intersect Power, a company dedicated to developing energy infrastructure, including renewable energy sources, for data centers. Google has paid $4.75 billion for the San Francisco-based company, in addition to assuming its debt. According to Sundar Pichai:
“Intersect will help us expand our capacity, operate with greater agility in the construction of new power generation facilities in line with the new load of data centers, and reinvent energy solutions to drive innovation and American leadership”
Why it is important. The agreements of AI companies are usually focused on computing capacity, not energy. This agreement underlines the importance of energy in AI infrastructure, putting it on the same level as the very chips it powers. Data centers are being developed at a brutal pace and energy is presenting itself as a bottleneck. Satya Nadella already said it: there is no energy for so many chips. It’s Google ensuring enough “food” for its chips.
Iintersect. Google’s relationship with Intersect began just a year ago, when the big tech acquired a minority stake in the company. Under this collaboration, several projects have come to light in their data centers. Both these projects and all Intersect personnel are part of the agreement. What the agreement does not include are other company assets, mainly located in Texas and California, worth 15 billion. These will continue to operate under the Intersect brand.
Energy. In 2023, data centers already accounted for 4% of the energy consumption of the entire United States, and at the rate at which they are being built, the figure will continue to increase (there is talk of 12% by 2028). The problem is that the US electrical infrastructure cannot support that pace and is having consequences for consumers through electricity Price increases.
Google assures that with this agreement it will be able to guarantee “an abundant, reliable and affordable energy supply that allows the construction of data center infrastructures without passing on costs to network customers.”
Image | Wikipedia, Intersect
In WorldOfSoftware | Talking about artificial intelligence is talking about energy, and the fashionable term is ‘bragawatts’
