Data centers and internet exchanges points in ‘Data Center Alley’ may be indistinguishable. However, they serve different purposes.
Photo of data centers in Ashburn, Virginia, in July 2023. The centers house the computer servers and hardware required to support modern internet use, including artificial intelligence. The county is home to the world’s largest concentration of data centers. Tech companies like to place the centers here, partly because the region’s proximity to the nation’s traditional internet backbone allows the servers in those data centers to save nanoseconds crucial to support financial transactions, gaming technology and other time-sensitive applications. Photo by Ted Shaffrey/AP