"The data center boom is fully underway, and the numbers are staggering: billions of dollars in costs, millions of square feet worth of buildings, gigawatts of energy, and millions of gallons of water used per day. But before these AI-fueling behemoths can get up and running, there's an extensive amount of prep work needed to build the infrastructure those data centers rely upon, with a whole other set of staggering costs, material flows, and resource requirements."
""The focus for the most part is always on the facility . . . but what gets a lot less attention today is actually what it takes to build the infrastructure around them," says Nathan Creech, president of the Americas division at CRH, the $81 billion market cap building materials company. "Most people don't see the below-the-ground infrastructure for water, for telecom, for energy that it takes, or the road systems to get in.""
The data center boom is producing billions of dollars in construction costs, millions of square feet of buildings, gigawatts of energy demand, and millions of gallons of water consumed daily. Extensive preparatory work is required to build supporting infrastructure, which generates additional costs, large material flows, and significant resource requirements. Below-ground systems for water, telecommunications, energy distribution, and road access are essential components of each facility. The scale of infrastructure demand is creating a thriving market for suppliers of raw materials and building components. Infrastructure expansion is proceeding rapidly with no clear end in sight.
Read at Fast Company
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