The CIA Sure Looks Busy

The rise of generative AI applications like ChatGPT, Midjourney or Bard already leads to increased demand in the world’s data center network due to its sometimes hefty requirements for the underlying large language models.

This computing demand will only increase in the upcoming years, necessitating the building of new data centers and expanding the capacities of existing ones.

As Statista’s Florian Zandt shows in the following chart, based on 2022 data collected by commercial real estate company Cushman & Wakefield, the race between the global superpowers China and the United States also extends to data centers.

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The highest concentration of data center power capacity in the world can be found in Northern Virginia, particularly the counties of Loudoun and Prince William.

According to an interview with the vice chairman of real estate service provider CBRE, Rob Faktorow, with radio broadcaster WTOP in 2022, the main reasons are tax incentives, superior connectivity and infrastructure well suited to the resource needs of big server farms.

“It is true Northern Virginia is the data…