AI Datacenters Eat the World [video] (opens in new tab)

The video "How AI Datacenters Eat the World" argues that the rise of artificial intelligence has triggered a seismic shift, fundamentally reinventing the datacenter from a facility for storing data into a new type of infrastructure best described as an "AI supercomputer." Unlike traditional datacenters that must be located near population centers for low-latency services like video streaming, AI datacenters are indifferent to location because their workloads are limited by immense computational demands, not network speed. This shift is perfectly encapsulated by the video's central story of Meta demolishing a multi-million dollar, half-built traditional datacenter in Texas, only to replace it with a radically different, higher-density design capable of supporting the next generation of AI hardware.

This new breed of AI facility is defined by an unprecedented push for density and power at every level. At the component level, AI chips like Nvidia's Blackwell GPUs consume over 1,000 watts each, leading to server racks that draw over 130 kilowatts—a 30-40x increase over traditional racks. Such extreme power density has made conventional air cooling obsolete, forcing a complete industry transition to complex liquid cooling systems. This explosive growth extends to the entire facility, with new AI campuses requiring hundreds of megawatts of power, and gigawatt-scale projects already underway. Unlike the fluctuating usage of traditional datacenters, these AI supercomputers run at near-maximum capacity 24/7, placing a constant, massive strain on energy grids.

The consequence of this technological revolution is a global "arms race" for energy, driven by the belief that achieving Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is a multi-trillion-dollar prize. Hyperscalers are no longer just tech companies; they are becoming major energy players. The video highlights stunning examples, such as Microsoft restarting the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor and Amazon building next to another nuclear plant to secure power. With individual AI campuses planned to consume as much electricity as entire industrialized nations, the video concludes that the insatiable appetite of AI is setting it on a trajectory to become the world's single largest consumer of power, quite literally beginning to "eat the world."