Data center electricity demand is set to double worldwide by 2030. In the US, the scramble for gigawatts is rewriting utility economics, reviving nuclear plants, and jamming interconnection queues.
Big Tech's data center spending is heading toward $700 billion in 2026, vacancy in top markets has fallen to fractions of a percent, and 71% of Americans don't want any of it next door. Where the capacity is going, and why.
The average server rack still draws under 9 kW. AI racks are heading past 600. Inside the industry's forced march from air conditioning to liquid cooling, and the water politics that come with it.
Server halls, diesel farms, mantraps, and rooms where the internet physically connects to itself: a plain-English walk through the buildings behind the cloud.