In-Depth Investigation: The Chaos, Truth, and Lies Behind America's 1,240 AI Data Centers

The AI construction frenzy continues, and big tech companies are accelerating the construction of data centers, but local residents, the environment and infrastructure are silently bearing a heavy price. This article is based on an article written by Wall Street Insight, compiled and written by TechFlow. (Synopsis: Nvidia's own son rammed!) CoreWeave signed a $14.2 billion partnership deal with Meta, and CRWV jumped 13%) (Background added: CoreWeave renewed OpenAI's $6.5 billion order!) Three signings blocked 22.4 billion magnesium, CRWV skyrocketed 238% this year) Tech companies are building data centers at an unprecedented rate, with more than 2 data centers popping up every week in the U.S. alone. Data centers are the engine of AI's boom, storing photos, videos, and social network information, yet there is little official record of how many of these facilities there are, where they are located, and who controls them. In order to answer the above questions, the investigative reporters of the US media Business Insider decided to draw a map of data centers across the United States, using the backup generator application records of data centers as a starting point, and reviewing public records state by state, so that those data centers that have long been invisible because they have been defined as "trade secrets" gradually appear. The findings are staggering, with as many as 1,240 large data centers built or approved for construction in the U.S. by 2024, an almost 300% increase in the number over the past 15 years. These data centers, surrounded by walls and barbed wire, are concentrated in Virginia and Arizona, and require enough electricity and water to rival the entire city, putting enormous pressure on the local environment and infrastructure. Large data centers can consume more than 2 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity per year, enough to power 200,000 homes for 1 year. More than 43% of data centers are built in areas of high or extreme water scarcity and use drinking water for cooling. In response to the enormous energy pressure on data centers, many regions have delayed plans to adopt clean energy and need to spend tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of dollars to retrofit infrastructure. By 2039, Virginia's electricity bills could rise by more than 50 percent as a result of related construction. More worryingly, data centers are often located in close proximity to residential areas for more reliable infrastructure. Business Insider reporters first went to Loudoun County, Virginia, known as the "Silicon Valley of the Data Center", where the data center has made a real impact on people's daily lives. Residential areas and data centers are only 100 meters apart, and some houses have been surrounded by data centers 1/3 of the world's Internet traffic passes through Virginia, USA. The state's Loudoun County has the highest density of data centers in the world, with 329 data centers that consume 1/4 of the state's electricity. At first glance, this is just an ordinary American suburb, but when viewed from above, the huge white computer rooms are neatly arranged like modern factories. Tech companies choose this place because of reliable electricity, abundant water, tax incentives, and cheap land. But these advantages also mean that data centers are often separated from residential neighborhoods. Northern Virginia, where Loudoun County is located, is the most densely populated area of the Washington, D.C. urban agglomeration in the United States, and the fastest growing area in the United States. And data centers are being built here quickly and in large quantities. Donna Gallant was one of those affected by the construction of the data center. She lived peacefully in Prince William County, Northern Virginia, for 30 years and was the fourth homeowner on her street, witnessing the development of the area. In 2021, Google built a data center 750 meters near her home. Since then, the noise at night has made her so anxious that she has had to leave her bedroom on the second floor and go down to the first floor, wearing noise-cancelling headphones to fall asleep. She tried to ask the staff and government officials on the scene for information about the data center, but only got one sentence: "We signed a confidentiality agreement, we can't talk about it." Worse, this is just the beginning. More data centers will pop up around Donna's neighborhood in the coming years. A piece of land originally used for housing was rezoned in 2023 for industrial use, paving the way for the construction of the data center. A 75-foot-tall (about 22.8 meters) data center is now being built there, directly opposite the residential area. Prince William County already has more than 70 data centers, and if the master plan is fully realized, plus neighboring Loudoun County, it will have more data centers than in all of Russia. Donna tried to redistricting through a legal challenge, but the lawsuit was dismissed. She argues that the world does need data centers, but it would be a mistake to build them next to people's homes. Similar stories continue to pop up across the United States. Carlos Llanes, a resident of Manassas, Virginia, measures noise from Amazon's data center on his doorstep every day and shares it with local residents' organizations. "You can not only hear these sounds, but you can feel them directly," he said. The source of the above noise is the cooling system of the data center. In many data centers, a huge cooling system extracts hot air and circulates it through air conditioning units to achieve cooling. The most common form of cooling is to absorb heat with cold water and release it through the cooling tower, and both the cooling system and the fan emit a continuous hum sound. These square boxes are the cooling systems of the data center The noise level is usually lower than the government's allowable limit for industrial areas close to residential areas. But the buildings in these residential complexes are not designed to accommodate the round-the-clock buzz of modern data centers. The low-frequency vibration even made the windows in Carlos's home shake, and he had to spend $20,000 to replace the soundproof windows, but he still couldn't sleep peacefully. The hum of the night bothered him and his 7-year-old son, who even thought there was a "spaceship" outside. At one point, Carlos even organized a family to move to the basement to escape the shaking. After the residents' committee and local authorities intervened, the data center operator initially tried to lower the volume by placing material around the fan on top of the building. These measures ultimately did not bear fruit, and the operator replaced the fan itself and installed a higher exhaust port. Noise levels did drop after the improvements, but Carlos and his neighbors say they can still feel the shaking of the data center. Carlos said he was not opposed to the construction of data centers, but also believed that these construction should not cross the red line - that is, it should not be too close to residential areas, schools, etc. Unfortunately, more data centers will be in use in Carlos' neighborhood in the coming years. Amazon responded that its noise was "well below mandated standards," but the physical and mental impact felt by residents could not be ignored. The American Public Health Association warns that long-term noise can lead to cardiovascular disease and mental health problems. Demystifying data centers with licenses: Amazon, Microsoft, Google top three How many data centers are impacting the lives of local residents? And which companies are responsible? Currently, the United States does not have a complete directory of public data centers, no official maps, and no dedicated regulatory body to provide answers. Attempts to obtain information through a Freedom of Information Act application are more commonly resulted in deleted files or rejection on the grounds of "trade secrets." Data center-related documents are often drastically cut Business Insider investigative journalists...