The global war on AI data centres: Why cities including London are rebelling against big tech
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cities → include → tech
The approval of one in London’s Brick Lane is the latest of the many colossal data centres mushrooming across the country — but will a backlash halt the march of AI?
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backlash → mushroom → AI
Chris Blackhurst reports
They are spreading across London.
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They → report → London
They could be from a sci-fi thriller, unless they weren’t so real, as gigantic metallic sheds move in to the ends of suburban streets, shielding the sky, blocking any view and emitting a constant, low-level hum.
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sheds → move → hum
They were growing in number but very soon, with the explosion in AI, one may soon be coming near you.
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one → grow → you
Often, they appear near each other.
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they → appear → other
Better that way, that they form clusters, so their developers say, in order to support one another.
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developers → form → one
Until you’ve seen one, it’s hard to grasp their vastness.
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it → see → vastness
Some measure over 100,000 square feet or roughly 100 times a normal London terrace house.
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Some → measure → feet
But that is difficult to take in and gives no indication of their towering height and width.
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that → take → height
Behind it looms something new and out of scale, that by its sheer size and grey, metal exterior, appears heavily forbidding.
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that → loom → size
Imagine the biggest warehouse you’ve ever seen, except bigger.
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you → imagine → warehouse
It’s as if some sort of secret military installation has been planted right in your midst, in your neighbourhood.
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sort → ’ → neighbourhood
All around the world, not just here in the capital, residents are waking up to this new inhabitant.
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residents → wake → inhabitant
Everywhere, they are up in arms, shocked at what they’re expected to live alongside, worried too about the largely-unknown health implications.
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they → shock → implications
As many as 40 have sprung up in the Slough area alone, 20 are planned for the Colne Valley, 11 are already operational or coming to Park Royal.
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11 → spring → Royal
Officially classed as belonging to the critical national infrastructure, these “hyperscale” — as they are termed by their developers — monsters enjoy special status.
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they → class → status
They are hard to dislodge — Angela Rayner has ignored local objections and controversially approved a development at the Truman Brewery site in Brick Lane in the East End.
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Rayner → dislodge → End
Costing £500m, this AI-serving behemoth will also create 44 additional homes.
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behemoth → cost → homes
But here’s the rub: feeding the computer servers inside will use the equivalent power of 15,000 homes.
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feeding → ’ → homes
The industry body Water UK reckons data centres in England consume 6.6m litres a day to keep their equipment cool, although their proponents maintain they use closed systems so the water is recycled.
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water → reckon → systems
Even so, they still pump out heat — recent research from Cambridge University has calculated that data centres can increase nearby soil temperatures by 2C and if there are several together, up to 9C.
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centres → pump → 2C
In the US, claims have been made they pollute the air, giving off tiny particles.
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they → make → particles
Jobs do accompany them, but usually around 30 to 40 — often nowhere near the number employed in the former factories they replace — and frequently, these new posts are highly specialised, employing people moving from elsewhere.
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posts → accompany → people
All of which amounts to the case for the prosecution.
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All → amount → prosecution
Added to that is the secrecy that frequently shrouds their arrival, which only serves to make them appear more sinister.
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them → add → arrival
In planning applications, they tend to be lodged vaguely as “storage” or “warehousing”.
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they → tend → storage
The true identity of the real operator also tends to be hidden.
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identity → tend → operator
They do that, they say, to protect their security — they are dealing with reams of hugely valuable, sensitive material.
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they → do → material
That’s fair enough, but another interpretation is that by keeping the new building’s purpose hidden, potential protests can be kept at bay until it is too late and permission is granted.
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permission → ’ → bay
In numerous places, rebellions against data centres are raging.
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rebellions → rag → centres
In the US, they have become an unlikely battleground in the forthcoming mid-term elections, with Republican nimbys for once being prepared to push back against Donald Trump and the Maga movement and their love for the super-rich, all-powerful tech bros.
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nimbys → become → bros
The centres are seen as a threat to the environment and the look of a district.
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centres → see → district
But it is more than that — increasingly the digital fortresses are viewed as symbolic of the advance of AI and the threat to people’s employment prospects and future prosperity.
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fortresses → view → prospects
Trump, for now at least, is unabashed, continuing to act as their vocal champion.
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Trump → continue → champion
“The only reason that communities throughout the USA should not want data centres is if they want to end up being backwards and poor,” he posted recently.
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he → want → centres
“If we kill the Golden Goose, you will only have yourselves to blame.”
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you → kill → yourselves
For their part, the tech giants are pumping more than $300m into the mid-term elections, backing a nationwide advertising campaign to highlight why the centres are vital.
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centres → pump → campaign
They face a tough challenge — a Gallup poll has found 71 per cent of Americans oppose local data centres.
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cent → face → centres
The usually Trump-aligned Fox News found that 70 per cent were against, including 53 per cent of Maga Republicans.
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cent → align → Republicans
…and 24 more, not listed.
The Aporia
