Microsoft is building two data centers west of Phoenix, with plans for seven more (servicing OpenAI among other companies). “Microsoft has been adding data centers at a breakneck pace, recently spending more than $10 billion in cloud computing power every quarter,” The Atlantic wrote. “One semiconductor analyst called this “the greatest infrastructure development humanity has ever seen.''
But is this part of a worrying trend?
Microsoft plans to absorb excess heat with a steady flow of air and, if necessary, evaporated drinking water. Usage of the latter is projected to reach more than 50 million gallons each year. It can be a burden at the best of times. In 2023, that seemed absurd. Phoenix had just endured its hottest summer ever, with 55 days of temperatures exceeding 110 degrees. The weather strained the power grid, exacerbating the effects of the worst drought the region has faced in more than 1,000 years. The Colorado River, which provides drinking water and hydroelectric power throughout the region, is dwindling. Farmers have already had to lay their fields fallow, and communities in Phoenix's eastern suburbs have been without running water for much of the year. [T]There were dozens of other facilities in the area, including those operated by Apple, Amazon, Meta, and soon Google. Not far from California and with an abundance of cheap land, Greater Phoenix is one of the fastest growing data center hubs in the United States.
Microsoft, the largest technology company on the planet, has ambitious plans to tackle climate change. In 2020, it pledged to become carbon negative (remove more carbon than it emits each year) and water positive (replenish more clean water than it consumes) by the end of the decade. But the company is also fully committed to his OpenAI, the most important manufacturer of large-scale AI models. In doing so, he helped start a global race to build and deploy one of the world's most resource-intensive digital technologies. Microsoft operates more than 300 data centers around the world and declared in 2021 that it is “on pace to build 50 to 100 new data centers each year for the foreseeable future…”
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside estimated last year that global demand for AI could cause data centers to suck up 1.1 trillion to 1.7 trillion gallons of fresh water by 2027. Another study (peer-reviewed) from a Dutch university found that: The power demand for AI servers could grow to as much as 100 terawatt-hours per year over the same period, which is about the same as the entire annual consumption of Argentina or Sweden. [T]Conflicts over data center water usage are occurring not only in Arizona but also in other parts of the world, including Oregon, Uruguay, and the United Kingdom.
The article notes that Microsoft is “shifting some data centers, including one in Arizona, to designs that use less or no water, cooling them instead with giant fans.” According to the article, an analysis (commissioned by Microsoft) of a building's impact showed that it uses approximately 56 million gallons of drinking water annually, equivalent to the amount used by 670 homes. “In other words, no one will go thirsty on a campus of servers pumping out his ChatGPT responses from the Arizona desert.”