Data center boom in US disrupting American countryside

RTÉ News · RTÉ News · 2026-11-03 07:17 UTC

In the United States, the data center boom is disrupting the American countryside and is entering the midterm election battle.

In the United States, the data center boom is disrupting the American countryside and is entering the midterm election battle.

In the United States, they often extend as far as the eye can see. This is the case in the city of New Albany, Ohio. Here, 40 data centers are already operated by around fifteen companies, including Amazon, Google, and Meta. 28 more are under construction or being planned to run Artificial Intelligence servers.

For these data centers are the invisible infrastructures of our digital everyday life. Behind applications, streaming platforms, and especially Artificial Intelligence, thousands of servers run continuously. Giant computing buildings that require considerable amounts of electricity and sometimes very water-intensive cooling systems.

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