Data Center News Roundup: AI Chips, DCW 2024, Ukrainian Hackers

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.

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Chips A(I)hoy: A Raft of Chip Announcements

As interest in artificial intelligence continues, this week saw AI chip announcements from tech giants Intel, Google, and Meta.

Additionally, TSMC is on track to receive $11.6 Billion in grants and loans from the US government as part of the 2022 Chips and Science Act to boost the US semiconductor industry. TSMC will use the funds to build its third Arizona-based chip factory.

Even the Dominion of Canada is jumping on the AI bandwagon. The country’s 2024 federal budget includes provisions invest $2.4 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure and research.

“AI has the potential to transform the economy. And our potential lies in capitalizing on the undeniable Canadian advantage,” announced Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday.

Ukrainian Hackers Attack Russian Data Center

As modern warfare increasingly relies on digital technology and communication, the cloud has become a critical battleground for military operations.

On Monday, The Kyiv Independent reported that Ukrainian hackers – possibly connected to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) – destroyed a data center used by over “10,000 entities involved in the Russian military industry,” the latest casualty in an escalating cyber war between the two nations.

According to SBU cybersecurity chief Illia Vitiuk, Ukraine has repelled almost 10,000 cyber-attacks since the outbreak of the full-scale war in 2022.

This Week’s Data Center Deals and Developments

In data center developments, Microsoft announced plans to invest $2.9 billion into AI data centers in Japan by 2025, Microsoft’s largest investment in the archipelago to date. According to Nikkei Asia, Microsoft will install AI semiconductors in two of Japan's existing data centers as well as develop a new lab in Tokyo for AI research and development.

"The competitiveness of every part of the Japanese economy... will depend on the adoption of AI," said Microsoft President Brad Smith.

On another, distant island – Ireland – the national independent planning body, An Bord Pleanála, approved plans for Art Data Centres’ 200MW €1.2 billion data center campus in Ennis. In the face of environmental concerns, progress on the campus has been slow going. After six years in the zoning and planning stages, construction is expected to take another six.

On Wednesday, Belgian data center operator LCL announced a plan to add a fifth data center to the region's “most connected” data center campus, LCL Brussels-North, with a €30 million investment.

Elsewhere in Belgium, Google broke ground on a new data center campus in one of the nation’s poorest municipalities. The three-building, €1 billion campus will cover 570,500 square feet and offer a capacity of 200-300MW. In a sustainable twist, conditions attached to the planning permit require 90% of the energy consumed by the campus to be carbon-free by 2025, and 95% by 2030.

In Paris, European construction company Mercury will lead the expansion of Digital Realty’s Paris Digital Park. Once complete, the campus is expected to hold 39,000 square meters of white space and 76MW of power.

Finally, Vantage Data Centers announced on Thursday plans to open its second Zurich campus (ZRH2) this summer. The 226,000 sq.ft campus will support high-performance computing applications for Vantage’s hyperscale and cloud customers.

Data Center World 2024: The Sessions We Can’t Miss

In preparation for next week’s Data Center World conference and expo in Washington, DC, Data Center Knowledge contributor Drew Robb shared his most-anticipated DCW sessions, including ones that will discuss the real-world impact of AI, evolving power and cooling options, and the data center skills gap.

If you’re going to be in DC, make sure to add Drew’s recommendations to your conference schedule. We’ll see you there!

Other Great Reads on DCK This Week

Unlocking Efficiency: The Advantages of Multi-Story Data Centers. Expect to see a rise in multi-story data centers thanks to their potential to save money and enhance sustainability.

Cloudflare Expands Data, Serverless, and AI Tools. Cloudflare was busy during its Developer Week 2024 event, rolling out a series of major updates to better enable organizations to build applications.

Cabinet-Level Controls: A Final Layer of Physical Data Center Security. No amount of higher-level physical security controls can mitigate certain types of threats that affect individual server cabinets and the IT equipment inside them. Here's what data center pros need to know.

Guide to Bare-Metal-as-a-Service Providers. Searching for an infrastructure provider that offers bare metal as a service? This guide breaks BMaaS providers down by category.

Why Liquid Cooling Systems Threaten Data Center Security. We are potentially encroaching on a water supply crisis if data center operators, utilities, and the government don't implement preventative measures now.

IBM Quantum Computer Goes Online at University. Partnership with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute aims to accelerate quantum computing research, workforce development and education.