Data Center News Roundup: Report Highlights AI Challenges, Emissions Hotspots Unveiled

With data center news moving faster than ever, we want to make it easy for industry professionals to cut through the noise and find the most important stories of the week.

The Data Center Knowledge News Roundup brings you the latest news and developments across the data center industry – from investments and mergers to security threats and industry trends.

To keep up to date with all things data centers, subscribe to the Data Center Knowledge newsletter to get content straight to your inbox.

Opportunities and Challenges

The AI boom is driving a wave of data center investment, but the expansion is facing critical hurdles, according to a new report. Turner & Townsend’s 2024 Data Centre Cost Index highlights the twin challenges of power availability and supply chain limitations that could slow the pace of growth.

The survey of 250 industry leaders reveals that 92% see AI as the most significant influence on data center operations in the next 3-5 years, emphasizing the need for larger and more complex facilities to meet this demand.

However, the sector’s growth is being tested by infrastructure bottlenecks. Power availability has become a top concern, with 92% of respondents considering it more critical than location for new projects.

At the same time, 80% of industry players report delays in manufacturing and delivery of essential equipment as supply chains struggle to keep up with the increased demand for data center capacity.

Related:Biden Drafting Plan for Construction of AI Data Centers on Federal Land

“Data centers are increasingly seen by governments as critical national infrastructure, and there is clearly a huge opportunity for clients,” said Lisa Duignan, data center lead in Europe, at Turner & Townsend. “But growing challenges, not least power supply and labor shortages, need to be managed.”

Read the full report for more.

Epyc Hardware Launch

AMD has released its next-generation Epyc server processor: a high-performance, energy-efficient CPU that’s designed for cloud, enterprise, and artificial intelligence workloads, the company announced today (October 10).

At its Advancing AI event in San Francisco on Thursday, AMD CEO Lisa Su said AI will enable many new experiences that will make computing an even more essential part of our lives, from accelerating medical discoveries and revolutionizing research to creating smarter, more efficient cities and enabling more resilient supply chains.

Data Center Knowledge writer Wylie Wong attended the launch. Read our coverage of the event and hear what analysts have to say about AMD’s latest Epyc processor, as the chipmaker ramps up its push to compete in the AI and data center space.

Related:Post-Gen AI Hype: Enterprises Scrutinize Budgets and Raise the Bar

US data center emissions are highest in Virginia, Texas, and California (Image: KnownHost)

Emissions Hot Spots Unveiled

In other news this week, Virginia, Texas, and California were named the US states most impacted by data center emissions, with Virginia leading by a significant margin.

A study from web hosting provider KnownHost examined the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-eq) emissions per megawatt-hour (MWh) from data centers across the US.

It was found that Virginia’s data centers produce an estimated 199.1 tons of CO2-eq per MWh – over one-seventh of the total US data center emissions.

Texas, ranked second, emits an estimated 71.25 tons of CO2-eq across 278 data centers, followed by California with 116.7 tons of CO2-eq.

Check out our coverage of the report for a deep dive into the data center industry’s “multi-pronged” carbon reduction strategy.

Under Construction

In data center build and construction news, Illinois saw a wave of activity as T5 Data Centers broke ground on its T5@CHI III facility in Northlake, and CyrusOne commenced development of its new 40 MW campus in Aurora.

Elsewhere, Skanska said it is developing a $241 million data center in Arizona, and construction has begun on DC Blox the new 216 MW Atlanta East Hyperscale Data Center campus

Related:Canada Invests $240M to Advance AI Data Center Capacity

In Italy, Aruba has inaugurated its new data center campus in Rome.

Goodman has completed its third building in its Tsuen Wan West data center campus in Hong Kong. The 50MW facility was handed over to GDS, an operator of high-performance data centers in Asia.

More new developments:

Other Great Reads in DCK This Week

How to Prevent Data Center Fires: Lessons from the Biggest Incidents. Data center fires can lead to employee injuries, downtime, and loss of customer trust. Learn vital lessons from major incidents to improve safety.

Tackling Data Center Hot Spots With Next-Generation Cooling Technologies. Next-gen cooling technologies like thermal destratification can tackle data center hot spots, enhancing efficiency and safeguarding data, writes Richard Halsall.

Pros and Cons of Sodium-Cooled Nuclear Reactors for Data Center Energy. Could nuclear reactors cooled by liquid sodium help solve the data center industry's energy woes – or are they still too risky? We weigh the benefits and challenges.

AI Energy Demand Will Be Less Than Many Are Expecting, DNV Says. Norwegian risk management company sees AI power demand reaching just 3% by 2030.

Benchmark to Breakthrough: How Standardized Testing Propels AI Innovation. Standardized benchmarks are critical to evaluating the performance of AI models and workloads in the data center, writes Amit Sanyal.