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Data centre

The buildings that house the computers on which AI models are trained and run. They use a great deal of electricity and, for cooling, often water as well.

What a data centre is

A data centre is a building, or a group of buildings, filled with servers: networked computers, together with the power supply, cooling and internet connections they need. Websites, apps, stored data and, more and more, AI models run there. "Datacenter" and "data center" are spelling variants of the same thing; "data centre" is the British form.

Why AI needs them

Training a model and answering questions takes thousands of GPUs working together, far more than a phone or laptop can offer. When you message a chatbot, the request leaves your device, reaches a data centre that may be hundreds of kilometres away, and the answer comes back in seconds.

Energy and water

According to the International Energy Agency, data centres worldwide used about 415 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2024, around 1.5% of the world total, and could reach about 945 by 2030, mostly because of AI. Many sites also use water for cooling, part of which evaporates. The article below explains the figures and the caveats.

In depth: Why does artificial intelligence use so much water and energy?

All the news that mentions it

October 2026

1. The datacentre next door: on the frontline of tech’s latest David v Goliath battle24 Oct 2026 · The Guardian AI · 1 source
2. Sharp drops for AI stocks overwhelm markets worldwide as oil prices jump22 Oct 2026 · The Guardian AI · 1 source
3. L’AI ridisegna i chip e l’architettura dei data center22 Oct 2026 · Il Sole 24 Ore Tecnologia · 1 source
4. Europa e Taiwan uniscono le forze: nasce una nuova sfida nel mercato delle CPU per l'IA22 Oct 2026 · Hardware Upgrade · 1 source
5. How tech became the villain of the US midterms22 Oct 2026 · The Guardian AI · 1 source
6. 37 miliardi di titoli spazzatura per i data center IA: perch� il mercato si preoccupa22 Oct 2026 · Hardware Upgrade · 1 source
7. ‘Pure arrogance’: anger in Finland as Google illegally fells 250,000 trees for datacentre22 Oct 2026 · The Guardian AI · 1 source
8. Trump ha un'idea per convincere i cittadini ad accettare i datacenter: pagarli22 Oct 2026 · Hardware Upgrade · 1 source
9. Data center, il boom dell’IA comincia a scricchiolare19 Oct 2026 · la Repubblica Tecnologia · 1 source
10. Montag: Hürden für neue KI-Rechenzentren, Forderung nach mehr Verfassungsschutz19 Oct 2026 · Heise KI · 1 source
11. Statt Cloud-Zwang: 19-Jähriger baut lokalen KI-Computer "Ghost" für 3.499 Dollar18 Oct 2026 · t3n · 1 source
12. Bau von KI-Rechenzentren kommt in den USA ins Stocken18 Oct 2026 · Heise KI · 1 source
13. Microsoft pulls out of AI datacentre project in Essex over power supply concerns18 Oct 2026 · The Guardian AI · 1 source
14. Eine Milliarde Nutzer von ChatGPT: Dennoch hassen viele Menschen KI18 Oct 2026 · t3n · 1 source
15. Mini-Reaktoren für KI-Rechenzentren: Die Revolution der Energieversorgung?17 Oct 2026 · t3n · 1 source
16. Inside the long, bitter fight over one man’s quest to build the biggest AI datacenter in California17 Oct 2026 · The Guardian AI · 1 source
17. 13 milliards pour l’IA : le mégachantier de Google en Finlande16 Oct 2026 · BFM Tech · 1 source
18. Chip e datacenter tremano in Borsa: che significa per l’AI16 Oct 2026 · AI4Business · 1 source
19. Talos Linux: Vom Kubernetes-OS zur Virtualisierungs- und KI-Plattform16 Oct 2026 · Heise KI · 1 source
20. Nvidia ist tabu: TikTok-Mutter will maß­ge­schneiderte KI-Chips von MediaTek16 Oct 2026 · ComputerBase · 1 source
21. Les craintes suscitées par les dettes des acteurs de l’IA agitent les marchés15 Oct 2026 · Le Monde Pixels · 1 source
22. TSMC controlla i data center USA: c'è abbastanza energia per l'AI?15 Oct 2026 · Tom's Hardware Italia · 1 source
23. Grüne Energie für Rechenzentren? Dieses chinesische Unternehmen will die Lösung haben15 Oct 2026 · t3n · 1 source
24. "Nessuno sa" come andrà con i soldi che stiamo mettendo sull'AI15 Oct 2026 · Tom's Hardware Italia · 1 source
25. Apple-Forscher nutzen Apple-Silicon-Macs im Idle-Betrieb als virtuelle GPUs14 Oct 2026 · Heise KI · 1 source
26. Non basta dare più energia all'AI: Siemens affronta un altro problema14 Oct 2026 · Tom's Hardware Italia · 1 source
27. AI overlords say they want to democratise their technology. Here’s how | Richard Wilson and Clara Long14 Oct 2026 · The Guardian AI · 1 source
28. Le isole di calore dei data center14 Oct 2026 · la Repubblica Tecnologia · 1 source
29. Orange investit dans un nouveau câble sous-marin pour relier l’Europe continentale aux centres de données en Irlande14 Oct 2026 · Le Monde Pixels · 1 source
30. Un botnet d’un genre nouveau : Anthropic a peur que votre TV devienne le refuge d’une IA malveillante13 Oct 2026 · 01net · 1 source
31. Data center AI consumano miliardi di litri d’acqua13 Oct 2026 · Punto Informatico · 1 source
32. Anthropic lancia l’allarme: l’AI può autoreplicarsi nei dispositivi smart13 Oct 2026 · AI4Business · 1 source
33. Dieser Mini-Reaktor soll Industrie und KI-Rechenzentren versorgen - aber es gibt mehrere Haken13 Oct 2026 · t3n · 1 source
34. heise+ | Bit-Rauschen: EU-CPU rechnet los, Raspberry Pi will mit Rüstung wachsen13 Oct 2026 · Heise KI · 1 source
35. Des IA capables de se multiplier toutes seules sur des boîtiers TV ? Anthropic alerte sur ce risque13 Oct 2026 · Numerama · 1 source
36. La Russia sta perdendo la guerra dei data center: ma i bot sono stati davvero eliminati dall'Ucraina?13 Oct 2026 · Hardware Upgrade · 1 source
37. Muse Wonder: cosa sa fare la nuova AI di Meta13 Oct 2026 · Punto Informatico · 1 source
38. La corsa alla potenza di calcolo cambia l’economia dell’AI12 Oct 2026 · AI4Business · 1 source
39. L’escalade suivante au détroit d’Ormuz : la destruction des câbles Internet sous-marins par l’Iran ?12 Oct 2026 · Numerama · 1 source
40. Can the AI industry persuade data center opponents by getting rid of NDAs?11 Oct 2026 · TechCrunch AI · 1 source
41. L'Ucraina colpisce il cuore dell'AI russa: Yandex in difficoltà11 Oct 2026 · HDblog · 1 source
42. Project Suncatcher: Warum Google für seine Weltraum-Rechenzentren 1.800 Starship-Flüge braucht10 Oct 2026 · t3n · 1 source
43. Amazon and others are done keeping data center deals secret. Is it enough to build trust?9 Oct 2026 · TechCrunch AI · 1 source
44. Amazon drops data center NDAs, and AI agents want your credit card9 Oct 2026 · TechCrunch AI · 1 source
45. KI-Update Deep-Dive: Jede Menge Gigawatt für die KI9 Oct 2026 · Heise KI · 1 source
46. Dai chip all’energia: dove può incepparsi la crescita dell’AI9 Oct 2026 · Agenda Digitale · 1 source
47. Data center russo colpito da droni ucraini: fermi due supercomputer Nvidia A1009 Oct 2026 · Hardware Upgrade · 1 source
48. Nvidia-backed data centre firm scraps IPO as AI valuation concerns deepen9 Oct 2026 · BBC Technology · 1 source
49. Satelliten-Rechenzentren: SpaceX braucht 40 Milliarden US-Dollar für Nvidia-Chips9 Oct 2026 · ComputerBase · 1 source
50. Firmus pulls biggest ASX float since Telstra amid investor doubt about datacentre company9 Oct 2026 · The Guardian AI · 1 source
51. Russland: Ukrainischer Drohnenangriff trifft Yandex-Rechenzentrum8 Oct 2026 · Spiegel Netzwelt · 1 source
52. heise+ | KI-Hype: Warum der massive Ausbau von Rechenzentren kritisch hinterfragt wird8 Oct 2026 · Heise KI · 1 source
53. Datacentre company Firmus’s high flying valuation may be coming back down to earth ahead of expected ASX debut8 Oct 2026 · The Guardian AI · 1 source
54. Atom für KI: Google schließt Vertrag über 3,6 GW mit großem US-Stromversorger7 Oct 2026 · Heise KI · 1 source
55. Centres de données d'IA : la facture d'électricité cherche son payeur5 Oct 2026 · ActuIA · 1 source

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