Lately you may have come across more than one news item about data centers. These facilities, thirsty for water and energy, are experiencing a real boom in several countries, including Spain. The reason behind this boom is quite predictable: companies that are betting on artificial intelligence (AI) depend on these infrastructures to train and execute language models.
Now, the United States is not enthusiastic about its technology companies installing AI data centers beyond its borders. It is not a minor concern: these infrastructures are considered strategic assets and, in the event of any unforeseen event, it is better to have them under your protection. For this reason, the outgoing administration of Joe Biden has promoted incentives for these centers to be built within the country.
Data centers on state land
The White House this week released details of an executive order that allows the lease of state land for data centers. The mandate requires the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy to identify several suitable sites for the construction of the aforementioned technological infrastructure. In addition, it urges users to guarantee a supply of clean energy for operations.
“We will not allow America to be surpassed when it comes to the technology that will define the future, nor must we sacrifice critical environmental standards and our shared efforts to protect clean air and clean water,” Biden said in the text.
Companies that want to use this benefit must meet some conditions, for example, using an appropriate amount of semiconductors produced in the United States. Here they apparently seek to favor the national industry of these components. Today, remember, Asia produces almost 90% of memory chips, 75% of microprocessors and 80% of wafers. The North American country aims to manufacture 20% of cutting-edge chips by 2030.
So what real reasons do companies have for betting on the United States instead of other parts of the world? The main advantage will come from government support. Washington has pledged to address red tape. They have promised to prioritize granting full permits for AI data centers on state land. And companies will not have to do the often problematic environmental studies, since the Department of Defense and Department of Energy will be responsible for this.
The idea is that the Government also gets involved in some way in the projects to accelerate issues such as the planning, construction and development of part of the infrastructure of future data centers. They also promise to work to facilitate access to the electrical grid. In other words: they seek to offer a cocktail of benefits quite attractive for AI data centers to proliferate on American soil as soon as possible.
Images | Brandon Day | Patrick Turner | Igor Omilaev
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