"Nations around the world are rapidly building out the infrastructure needed to take part in the AI boom-including massive, multibillion dollar investments in data centers, which house and manage the servers needed to process, store and share information. Yet data centers guzzle up energy and water, needed to power servers and cool systems. And that may end up putting strain on another industry that's just as important for a country's future: Agriculture."
""The electricity that we're using for our data centers and AI chips? Don't forget that it is also required for us to grow food," said Gerard Lim, CEO of Agroz, a vertical farming startup, at the Fortune Innovation Forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Tuesday. Singapore, for example, briefly paused data center investments in 2019 due to concerns about electricity use and water consumption. And in the U.S., electricity prices are rising in states with greater data center construction, like Virginia."
Global investment in data centers for AI drives large, multibillion-dollar infrastructure builds that consume substantial electricity and water to power and cool servers. High data center resource use can compete directly with agriculture for energy and water, potentially stressing food production systems. Some jurisdictions have paused or scrutinized data center growth due to resource concerns, and electricity prices have risen in regions with heavy data center construction. Rising populations and wealth are increasing demand for higher-quality, protein-rich food, creating urgency to boost yields and output from existing resources. Controlled-environment farming and technology can markedly increase yields while cutting water use.
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