OpenAI announced that it will build massive artificial intelligence data centers with a total capacity of 10 gigawatts as part of its strategic partnership with AI chip manufacturer Nvidia. The company’s CEO, Sam Altman, stated that the energy consumption of these projects will be equivalent to the power consumed by the entire city of New York.
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Nvidia is reportedly planning to invest up to $100 billion in this massive project. These data centers are generating significant debate regarding their energy consumption and environmental impact. In addition to existing projects, the planned Stargate projects will bring the total energy demand to 17 gigawatts with their implementation.
Fengqi You, a professor of energy systems engineering at Cornell University, stated that 10 gigawatts of power consumption is greater than the peak energy demand of Switzerland or Portugal, and that 17 gigawatts is equivalent to powering both countries together.
OpenAI and tech giant Oracle currently own a massive Stargate data center in Texas with enough capacity to power half a million homes. Five additional projects planned as part of the $500 billion Stargate project will use a total of 7 gigawatts of energy.
Experts point to an almost unimaginable increase in energy consumption in the AI and computing sector overall. Reports suggest that computing could consume 10 to 12 percent of the world’s energy by 2030.
BloombergNEF predicts that US data center power demand will more than double, from approximately 35 gigawatts in 2024 to 78 gigawatts by 2035.
Tech giants admit they are far from meeting their carbon emission targets. AI data centers are also reportedly putting significant pressure on local water resources to cool the hardware.
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