The latest in data centers, AI, and energy – The Verge

Senators are pushing to find out how much electricity data centers actually use

2026-03-26T11:23:19-04:00

An Amazon data center in Oregon. | Image: Amazon

On Thursday, senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) sent a letter to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) asking it to collect "comprehensive, annual energy-use disclosures" on data centers and make that information publicly available, as first reported by Wired. They're urging the agency to "establish a mandatory annual reporting requirement for data centers," saying the data is "essential for accurate grid planning," and ensuring the seven tech companies that signed the Ratepayer Protection Pledge earlier this month adhere to their commitments.

The EIA announced Wednesday that it's launching a voluntary pilot progr …

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How the spiraling Iran conflict could affect data centers and electricity costs

2026-03-10T18:25:06-04:00

A commercial ship is viewed anchored off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, in the Strait of Hormuz, Dubai, on March 2nd, 2026. Increased maritime traffic led to a buildup of vessels waiting near Dubai, highlighting the strategic importance of the strait, which handles 20 percent of global energy trade. | Photo: Getty Images

Soon after the Trump administration launched its war on Iran, I called up Reed Blakemore, director of research and programs at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center, to talk about the consequences. While oil and gas prices were already on the rise, there was still more hope then that the impact of the conflict might be short-lived. At the end of our conversation, Blakemore said plainly: "Let's have a call again [next week] … We'll have a much clearer picture of what the conflict is going to look like and what the story really is going to be for energy moving forward."

Energy infrastructure has become a key leverage point in the unfold …

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Seven tech giants signed Trump’s pledge to keep electricity costs from spiking around data centers

2026-03-04T19:17:37-05:00

Trump summoned tech leaders to the White House on Wednesday, March 4, 2026 to sign pledges committing their companies to foot the electricity bill for energy-hungry data centers. | Photo: Getty Images

Leaders from Google, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle, OpenAI, Amazon, and xAI met with President Donald Trump today to sign a "rate payer protection pledge." It's one way they're responding to growing bipartisan concerns about electricity rates rising as tech companies and the Trump administration rush to build out a new generation of AI data centers.

"[Tech companies] need some PR help because people think that if a data center goes in, their electricity prices are going to go up," Trump said during the event. "Some centers were rejected by communities for that and now I think it's going to be the opposite."

Trump signed a proclamation formally …

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Trump claims tech companies will sign deals next week to pay for their own power supply

2026-02-26T05:51:59-05:00

President Donald Trump tried to quell Americans' concerns about rising electricity costs during his State of the Union speech - and now we're learning that the deals he promised could land next week. Trump claimed that he's negotiated a "rate payer protection pledge" with major tech companies, which would see them build out or pay for new electricity generation for their data centers. Leaders from Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, xAI, Oracle and OpenAI are expected to attend a March 4th event to sign the pledge, Fox News reported today.

There are very few details at this point on what the pledge entails, nor how companies would be held ac …

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Anthropic says it’ll try to keep its data centers from raising electricity costs

2026-02-11T17:37:02-05:00

Anthropic is the latest AI company promising to limit the impact its data centers have on nearby residents' electricity bills.

The company said it would pay higher monthly electricity charges in order to cover 100 percent of the upgrades needed to connect its data centers to power grids. "This includes the shares of these costs that would otherwise be passed onto consumers," the announcement says.

Anthropic didn't provide details today about any agreements it has inked with energy companies in order to accomplish these goals. In November, it shared a $50 billion plan to build data centers in New York and Texas "with more sites to come."

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How an ‘icepocalypse’ raises more questions about Meta’s biggest data center project

2026-02-11T09:06:11-05:00

Donna Collins lives about 20 miles from where Meta's biggest data center is being built, in a house her family has lived in for five generations. Construction has thrown the small agricultural community in North Louisiana into the spotlight as a high-profile example of how the infrastructure behind generative AI could impact nearby residents.

For Collins, this place is "a little piece of heaven." "It's all I've ever known as a home. It's quiet. It's rural. It is beautiful," she says. "We can't imagine the changes that are coming."

The region was particularly hard-hit by the recent cold snap that knocked out power for hundreds of thousands …

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Microsoft wants to rewire data centers to save space

2026-02-23T12:00:11-05:00

A Microsoft data center in Aldie, Virginia, on Tuesday, October 28th, 2025. | Photo: Getty Images

Microsoft wants to design more efficient data centers using materials that allow electricity to flow with zero resistance. If these new materials, called high-temperature superconductors, can make it to market, Microsoft thinks it could be a game changer for how data centers and the energy infrastructure they connect to are built.

Tech companies are facing backlash over how much power generative AI demands, delays connecting to power grids that lack the infrastructure to meet those demands, and the impact construction of new data centers has on local residents. High-temperature superconductors (HTS) could potentially shrink the amount of s …

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New York is considering two bills to rein in the AI industry

2026-02-09T06:06:55-05:00

AI data centers are becoming a bipartisan concern. | Image: Microsoft

New York's state legislature is set to consider a pair of bills that would require labels on AI-generated content and would put a three-year pause on new data center construction.

The New York Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Requirements in News Act (NY FAIR News Act, for short) would require that any news "substantially composed, authored, or created through the use of generative artificial intelligence" carry a disclaimer. It would also require that any content created using AI be reviewed and approved by a human with "editorial control" before being published.

Beyond that, the bill requires organizations to disclose to newsroom em …

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Elon Musk is merging SpaceX and xAI to build data centers in space — or so he says

2026-02-04T12:25:53-05:00

On Monday, Elon Musk announced that he was merging two of his companies, SpaceX and xAI, in a deal said to be worth $1.25 trillion. The reason, Musk said in an announcement, was that in order for AI to grow, it needed to go to space.

AI relies on "large terrestrial data centers" that run on "immense amounts of power and cooling," he said, which comes at great expense to the environment and community opposition. The solution: data centers in space. "In the long term, space-based AI is obviously the only way to scale," Musk said.

Musk isn't the only one looking to launch data centers into orbit. Google has Project Suncatcher to build solar- …

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It’s a new heyday for gas thanks to data centers

2026-01-30T10:51:32-05:00

Gas turbines at the on-site natural gas plant under construction during a media tour of the Stargate AI data center in Abilene, Texas, US, on Sept. 24, 2025. | Photo: Getty Images

The US is now leading a global surge in new gas power plants being built in large part to satisfy growing energy demand for data centers. And more gas means more planet-heating pollution.

Gas-fired power generation in development globally rose by 31 percent in 2025. Almost a quarter of that added capacity is slated for the US, which has surpassed China with the biggest increase of any country. More than a third of that growth in the US is expected to directly power data centers, according to a recent analysis by the nonprofit Global Energy Monitor (GEM).

More gas means more planet-heating pollution

The rush to install more powerful hardwa …

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