Data Center News Roundup: Broadcom Layoffs, Event Controversy, and Sustainable Design

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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Data Center Sustainability Was Once Again a Big Theme This Week

With rising energy costs, increased computing demands, and limited resources, being sustainable isn’t just about being green, it’s also about improving the bottom line. This week, we took a closer look into what the sustainable data center of the future might look like.

Is the future of the sustainable data center under the sea? Is it made of wood? Or is it powered by small nuclear reactors? Read these articles and be the judge.

Data Center Event Coverage: Rivalry and Controversy

At re:Invent, Amazon’s annual conference in Las Vegas, the tech giant announced new versions of its homegrown chips alongside a workplace chatbot, Amazon Q, trained on AWS’s internal code and documentation and “designed to help corporate customers search for information, write code, and review business metrics.” Should Microsoft and OpenAI be worried?

In other event news, a number of tech leaders – including execs from Microsoft and Google – have canceled their appearances at DevTernity, an upcoming online developers conference, after accusations that its organizer fabricated female speakers’ profiles. Nearly half of the speakers on the event’s website, including the only (non-AI-generated) woman scheduled to speak, have since withdrawn from the conference.

Broadcom to Layoff Over 2,100

Following its $69 billion acquisition of VMware, Broadcom has initiated plans for significant layoffs in the new year. According to WARN notices filed in California, Georgia, New York, Washington, Colorado, and Virginia, 2,110 Broadcom employees are set to lose their jobs on January 26, 2024.

Likely, however, this is only the beginning. According to a source inside VMware, the company is expecting to layoff between 10,000 and 20,000 of VMware’s 38,000 employees.

Other Great Reads on DCK This Week

Direct-to-Chip Cooling: Everything Data Center Operators Should Know. Direct-to-chip cooling is an increasingly attractive data center cooling strategy. Find out what direct-to-chip cold plate cooling means, how it works, and why it may be the right approach for your data center.

How Can Data Center Managers Prepare for the Explosive Growth of AI?  New technologies are presenting new data center demands. But with the right systems in place, they can also bring exciting opportunities.

‘AI Blowback’ Angst Grips ESG Investors Who Bet Big on Tech. After investing heavily in big tech as a low-carbon, high-return bet, ESG fund managers are growing anxious over the sector's experimentation with AI.

Nowi Takeover: Nexperia Cleared to Acquire Dutch Chipmaker. Deemed not a threat to national security, Chinese-owned Nexperia has received approval from the Dutch government to acquire chipmaker Nowi Energy.

Microsoft Granted Final Approval for Wisconsin Data Center. By the end of December, Microsoft will take ownership of more than 1,000 acres of the Wisconsin Innovation Park for a multibillion-dollar data center.