All the latest updates on AI data centers – The Verge

Utility companies promise to spare us from AI’s energy bill

2026-07-22T07:00:09-04:00

The pledge was introduced in March, and has done little to quell concerns so far. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

In the face of backlash to concerns the AI boom will increase consumer electricity bills, the largest utility companies and data center developers in the US are now promising to do something about it. The Wall Street Journal reports that nearly 200 organizations have signed President Donald Trump's "rate payer protection pledge" that's meant to safeguard average citizens from footing the AI bill.

Trump is expected to announce the new signatories on Thursday, which include NextEra Energy, Duke Energy, Equinix, and Digital Realty, according to a list obtained by The WSJ. An unnamed White House official told the publication that those who hav …

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New York becomes the first state to enact a data center moratorium

2026-07-14T17:45:11-04:00

New hyperscale data centers can't set up shop in New York for up to a year now that Governor Kathy Hochul (D) has signed the nation's first statewide moratorium. But a bill passed by the state legislature that could restrict even more developments still awaits her signature.

The order blocks new environmental permits for data centers over 50 megawatts, which the governor's office says will give the state time to come up with the regulations needed to protect residents from rising energy prices and environmental impact. That's higher than the 20 megawatt threshold approved by state lawmakers. Hochul's office could not immediately identify th …

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The fight against AI data centers is just beginning

2026-07-13T08:35:37-04:00

A yard sign opposing a planned data center is displayed along Route 54 in Mount Carmel Township Northumberland County. | Image: Getty Images

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the data center buildout, follow Emma Roth. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes on Sunday at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here.

How it started

Years before the AI boom threatened local power grids, a small group of protesters set the stage for the battles cropping up across communities today. In 2015, Apple announced plans to build a roughly $1 billion data center in the sleepy town of Athenry, Ireland. The data center's 500-acre site would power Apple's services in Europe, including iTunes, iMessage, and Siri. At th …

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Would you host part of an AI data center in your home?

2026-07-10T09:26:58-04:00

A solar and home energy storage company is expanding into AI data centers, but not by building one - instead, it's offering to pay its customers to put its compute units in their homes. Sunrun is launching a pilot program for a new "distributed AI compute" program that will "place numerous compute nodes in homes equipped with Sunrun solar and battery storage systems." Customers will be "compensated" for participating in the pilot program.

Sunrun plans to sell the distributed compute power from the nodes to "enterprise compute buyers," like AI companies. It's a new approach to finding resources and space for AI compute infrastructure, as da …

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Nvidia says its AI data center design runs hotter to use a lot less water

2026-06-22T19:24:32-04:00

Public pushback against data centers has emphasized their water and energy consumption, and now Nvidia is highlighting its claim that the Rubin generation reference design for a fully liquid-cooled data center has "eliminated massive amounts of power usage and pretty much all water usage." Still, it doesn't address all of the concerns around AI data centers, including during their construction, and for the power generation requirements of the massive facilities. Also, as Gizmodo points out, Nvidia's blog post doesn't mention the cost of building this style of data center vs. one using less efficient air cooling, but claims that "every cloud …

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Amazon employees say they’re facing termination for backing data center limits

2026-06-18T15:10:48-04:00

When three Amazon software engineers testified earlier this month at Seattle City Council hearings about data centers, they started their testimony by citing a city law barring employment discrimination over political speech. Now, they're accusing their employer of breaking that law by retaliating against them.

On June 10th - one week after the hearing, and one day after the City Council passed a milestone moratorium on data centers - Patrick Schloesser, Darius Irani, and Liesl Wigand were each called into an impromptu meeting with Amazon's "Employee Relations." HR representatives told the employees that the company was investigating them …

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Amazon’s data centers used 2.5 billion gallons of water last year

2026-06-12T05:50:35-04:00

Just after Seattle enacted a one-year data center moratorium that some of Amazon's own employees pushed for, Amazon shared how much water its data centers use, reportedly for the first time. With concerns about water consumption and energy use a focus of new AI data center construction debates, Amazon says its global data center operations consumed 2.5 billion gallons of water in 2025 at a rate of 0.12 liters per kilowatt-hour of electricity, dropping by 2 percent from its 2024 total even as it expanded operations.

Amazon also claims it's using water more efficiently than some Big Tech rivals - this graphic in Amazon's report points to Mic …

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GM thinks EVs can help offset AI’s energy suck with vehicle-to-grid tech

2026-06-09T19:33:01-04:00

At an event in San Francisco today, General Motors made a series of announcements around EV batteries, energy storage, and grid resiliency in the face of growing electricity demand from AI data centers. The automaker announced that it would be activating new vehicle-to-grid capabilities for its current EV and home energy customers. It's releasing a new commercial energy storage system strategy, anchored by newly developed sodium-ion batteries for industrial-scale grid applications. And it's launching a new feature for EV owners that it says will help simplify public charging.

Right now, millions of EVs are sitting idly in driveways across …

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The mayor of Shelbyville, Indiana, says only people who live in ‘shitty houses’ oppose data center

2026-06-06T11:14:49-04:00

A proposed $2 billion data center has become a political flashpoint in the small city of Shelbyville, Indiana. And the controversy has only grown more intense after the mayor, Scott Furgeson, was caught on camera saying of the "No Data Center" signs going up that, "I've seen a lot of these all over town, but I only see them in shitty houses," before adding, "most of them are rentals."

The woman speaking to him in the clip quickly pushes back, saying that they're "working class," and someone chimes in to add something that a mayor shouldn't have to be told about their constituents: "it doesn't matter whether they're rentals, they're still hu …

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New York lawmakers pass one-year ban on new data centers

2026-06-05T12:48:45-04:00

The New York State legislature passed a one-year moratorium on new large data centers, the first statewide ban of its kind if Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul signs it into law.

Lawmakers behind the bill say it's meant to give policymakers time to understand the impact of large data centers on the environment and energy prices. It directs the state's environmental agency to create an impact report assessing the amount of electricity, water, and land that data centers use, and the pollution they create. It also requires companies planning to build large data centers - defined as having a peak demand of at least 20 megawatts - to hold and fun …

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