US strikes Iran for tenth straight night as Tehran hits Kuwait base; American death toll reaches 17Iranian missile hit US troop housing at Jordan base; Aqaba airport and port evacuatedHouthis declare Saudi naval blockade as fresh tanker attacks hit the Strait of HormuzBrent crude back above $90 as Gulf war rattles stocks, currencies and rate-settersTrump imposes 50% tariffs on Canadian goods under untested 1930 trade lawMerz signals cabinet reshuffle after Spahn quits as parliamentary leader over surrogacy rowBurnham takes office as UK prime minister, names Healey chancellor and calls TrumpRussia hits Kyiv with one of the war's largest ballistic barragesUkrainian drones and sea drones strike Russian oil terminals, power grid and Black Sea shipsFerry with about 133 aboard capsizes off Guyana; dozens missingAt least 50 Malian soldiers killed in jihadist–separatist ambush near AnefisChina uses WAIC to press its claim to lead 'global AI governance'Heatwave fuels major wildfires in Spain and Greece; nearly 50,000 hectares burnedUS strikes Iran for tenth straight night as Tehran hits Kuwait base; American death toll reaches 17Iranian missile hit US troop housing at Jordan base; Aqaba airport and port evacuatedHouthis declare Saudi naval blockade as fresh tanker attacks hit the Strait of HormuzBrent crude back above $90 as Gulf war rattles stocks, currencies and rate-settersTrump imposes 50% tariffs on Canadian goods under untested 1930 trade lawMerz signals cabinet reshuffle after Spahn quits as parliamentary leader over surrogacy rowBurnham takes office as UK prime minister, names Healey chancellor and calls TrumpRussia hits Kyiv with one of the war's largest ballistic barragesUkrainian drones and sea drones strike Russian oil terminals, power grid and Black Sea shipsFerry with about 133 aboard capsizes off Guyana; dozens missingAt least 50 Malian soldiers killed in jihadist–separatist ambush near AnefisChina uses WAIC to press its claim to lead 'global AI governance'Heatwave fuels major wildfires in Spain and Greece; nearly 50,000 hectares burned
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Narrative thread · 2 events

Data centers

Symbolic image

Since the breakthrough of generative AI from late 2022 and 2023, the AI boom has been driving a massive expansion of data centers worldwide, whose computing power is expected to multiply within a few years. The power appetite of these facilities is growing faster than that of most other consumers: according to estimates by the International Energy Agency, the global electricity consumption of data centers stood at around 485 terawatt-hours in 2025 and is likely to nearly double to about 950 terawatt-hours by 2030. The major cloud corporations, the so-called hyperscalers, exceeded the mark of 400 billion US dollars in 2025 in their investments in land, power supply and AI hardware. In addition to energy demand, the water consumption of cooling as well as long waiting times for grid connections and transformers strain power grids and municipalities; in Germany, the Frankfurt am Main location, with its high density of data centers, is considered particularly stretched.

BigData-Insider: Das KI-Energie-DilemmaAlgorithmWatch: Rechenzentrenausbau auf Kosten der Stromkunden?

Timeline in detail

Saturday, 18 July 2026Technology

Billion-dollar poker over AI data centers: SpaceX, Meta and Anthropic, chip start-up Etched

The race for computing capacity for artificial intelligence is driving new multibillion-dollar deals: SpaceX is reportedly negotiating with the Pentagon over a data center, while Meta and Anthropic are in talks over a data center deal worth up to $10 billion. The chip start-up Etched is aiming for a valuation of $20 billion.

The Wall Street Journal reports that SpaceX and the Pentagon are negotiating over a data center, and that the AI chip start-up Etched is in talks over a $20 billion valuation. The FT reports that Meta and Anthropic are negotiating a data center deal of up to $10 billion, with Meta considering entering the cloud business and investing a total of $145 billion in infrastructure. The deals show how the appetite for computing power is tying up capital on an unprecedented scale and binding tech corporations, start-ups and the state more closely together, for instance through the talks between SpaceX and the Pentagon. At the same time, the information so far rests on reports by the WSJ and FT and is in part marked as exclusive and still unconfirmed. Whether the capital outlay turns into viable businesses or a bubble is forming remains open.

Wall Street JournalFinancial Times

Wednesday, 15 July 2026TechnologyData centers drive up electricity and water costs, from New York to Cape Town

Data centers drive up electricity and water costs, from New York to Cape Town

The AI-driven build-out of data centers is pushing up electricity and water costs worldwide. In the United States, consumers in 13 states are to pay billions extra, while Cape Town is approving two huge, water- and energy-hungry data centers.

That data centers strain infrastructure is the common denominator of the reports; the political interpretation diverges. The left-liberal New York Times calculates that a power auction by the grid operator PJM burdens consumers and businesses in 13 states with an additional 6.3 billion dollars, costs of the data-center hunger that are passed on to the public. The conservative Wall Street Journal turns the question of blame around and, in a commentary, lambasts New York's "self-sabotage," whose policies obstruct the construction of data centers. South Africa's Daily Maverick shows the global dimension: in Cape Town, two enormous, "water- and energy-hungry" data centers have cleared a first approval hurdle, accompanied by concerns about scarce resources. The worldwide rising resource consumption of AI infrastructure is a fact; what is contested is whether the answer must be stricter regulation and cost-sharing by the operators, or a removal of construction hurdles.

New York TimesWall Street JournalDaily Maverick

Forecast · Assessment
  • Most likely60%

    The build-out continues, rising energy and water costs increasingly become a political flashpoint and are partly passed on to consumers.

  • Worst case20%

    Resource scarcity and cost explosions trigger local conflicts, moratoriums or supply shortfalls.

  • Best case20%

    Efficiency gains, renewable energy and operator cost-sharing defuse the resource conflict.