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What the US Movement Against Data Centers Can Learn From Abroad

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What the US Movement Against Data Centers Can Learn From Abroad

Paris Marx’s new book couldn’t have landed at a better time. The longtime critic of Big Tech and host of the Tech Won’t Save Us podcast has been thinking about data centers for years, and Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech's Data Empires comes out right as opposition hits a fever pitch.

“I certainly didn't predict that it was all going to kind of come to a head as my book was coming out,” he says with a laugh.

While data centers are playing a role in shaping US elections—they’re one of the issues that could decide key midterm races in less than two weeks—there’s a history of struggle around the world. Marx’s book takes the reader on a tour of the tech industry’s quest for power and its opposition, from antiwar protests targeting American computers during the Vietnam War, to more recent resistance in Ireland and Chile, and an alternative vision for the future of data centers in New Zealand.

I caught up with him this week to talk about what he’s seen, and what could happen if the AI bubble pops.

MOLLY TAFT: When did you decide to write a book about data centers?

PARIS MARX: In the Netherlands and Singapore, they had moratoriums going back to 2019. But in 2022, there was a growing recognition of the demands of data centers in Ireland, on the energy grid in particular. There were huge quantities of electricity that data centers were starting to consume over there.

The other story that really got on my radar was what happened with Google in The Dalles, Oregon.


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