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Data centre debate heats up ahead of US midterms - here's what you need to know

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Data centre debate heats up ahead of US midterms - here's what you need to know

Data centre debate heats up ahead of US midterms - here's what you need to know

Until a few years ago many of us may have been blissfully unaware of what a data centre was.

These giant, warehouse-like buildings power virtually all our internet activity, from our web searches and emails to movie downloads and online banking.

They are at the heart of the AI boom, housing the advanced computer chips and servers needed to run services like ChatGPT and Claude.

But the speed at which they're growing, the enormous amount of electricity they consume and concerns about their environmental impact are fuelling a public backlash around the world.

In the US, they've become a huge issue ahead of the midterm elections on 3 November, with both Republicans and opposition Democrats coming out against their development.

It's putting opponents of data centre expansion on a collision course with US President Donald Trump, who has dismissed the pushback as a "sick conspiracy", even as public anger grows.

Here's what you need to know about the data centre boom, and why opposition is growing.

There are about 12,250 data centres around the world, according to Data Center Map, a company that tracks both operational and pre-operational sites.

That's up sharply from 2021, when there were around 8,000 operational sites.

As the chart below shows, data centres are most densely clustered in the US which has 4,767 sites. It is followed by Europe, where the UK and Germany lead.


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