<\/p>\nconstruct the silicon backbone of the revolution in AI<\/p>\n
<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Google, Microsoft, AWS (Amazon) and Meta (Facebook) are drawing on their massive cash reserves to spend roughly US$400 billion (S$520 billion) in 2025 and even more in 2026 \u2013 backed for now by enthusiastic investors.<\/p>\n
All this cash has helped alleviate one initial bottleneck: acquiring the millions of chips needed for the computing power race. And the tech giants are accelerating their in-house processor production as they seek to chase global leader Nvidia.<\/p>\n
These will go into the racks that fill the massive data centres \u2013 which also consume enormous amounts of water for cooling.<\/p>\n
Building the massive information warehouses takes an average of two years in the US; bringing new high-voltage power lines into service takes five to 10 years.<\/p>\n
The \u201chyperscalers\u201d, as major tech companies are called in Silicon Valley, saw the energy wall coming.<\/p>\n
A year ago, Virginia\u2019s main utility provider, Dominion Energy, already had a data centre order book of 40 gigawatts \u2013 equivalent to the output of 40 nuclear reactors.<\/p>\n
The capacity it must deploy in Virginia, the world\u2019s largest cloud computing hub, has since risen to 47 gigawatts, the company announced recently.<\/p>\n
Already blamed for inflating household electricity bills, data centres in the US could account for 7 per cent to 12 per cent of national consumption by 2030, up from 4 per cent today, according to various studies.<\/p>\n
But some experts say the projections could be overblown.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth the utilities and the tech companies have an incentive to embrace the rapid growth forecast for electricity use,\u201d Dr Jonathan Koomey, a renowned expert from University of California, Berkeley, warned in September.<\/p>\n
As with the late 1990s internet bubble, \u201cmany data centres that are talked about and proposed, and in some cases even announced, will never get built\u201d.<\/p>\n
If the projected growth does materialise, it could create a 45-gigawatt shortage by 2028 \u2013 equivalent to the consumption of 33 million American households, according to Morgan Stanley.<\/p>\n
Several US utilities have already delayed the closure of coal plants, despite coal being the most climate-polluting energy source.<\/p>\n
And natural gas, which powers 40 per cent of data centres worldwide, according to the International Energy Agency, is experiencing renewed favour because it can be deployed quickly.<\/p>\n
In the US state of Georgia, where data centres are multiplying, one utility has requested authorisation to install 10 gigawatts of gas-powered generators.<\/p>\n
Some providers, as well as Mr Elon Musk\u2019s start-up xAI, have rushed to purchase used turbines from abroad to build capability quickly. Even recycling aircraft turbines, an old niche solution, is gaining traction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe real existential threat right now is not a degree of climate change. It\u2019s the fact that we could lose the AI arms race if we don\u2019t have enough power,\u201d Interior Secretary Doug Burgum argued in October.<\/p>\n
Tech giants are quietly downplaying their climate commitments. Google, for example, promised net-zero carbon emissions by 2030 but removed that pledge from its website in June.<\/p>\n
Instead, companies are promoting long-term projects.<\/p>\n
Amazon is championing a nuclear revival through small modular reactors, an as-yet experimental technology that would be easier to build than conventional reactors.<\/p>\n
Google plans to restart a reactor in Iowa in 2029. And the Trump administration announced in late October a US$80 billion investment to begin construction on 10 conventional reactors by 2030.<\/p>\n
Hyperscalers are also investing heavily in solar power and battery storage, particularly in California and Texas.<\/p>\n
The Texas grid operator plans to add approximately 100 gigawatts of capacity by 2030 from these technologies alone.<\/p>\n
Finally, both Mr Musk, through his Starlink programme, and Google have proposed putting chips in orbit in space, powered by solar energy. Google plans to conduct tests in 2027. AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO – In the race for artificial intelligence (AI) dominance, American tech giants have the money and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[220,218,219,61,60,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-131976","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}