00:00 Speaker A
New York suspends AI data center, Dan. Governor Hochul said he would sign an executive order (EO) banning the construction of large-scale data centers for up to one year. What are you making it with? And what’s the worry here? Electricity consumption, um, water usage, electricity bill? What do you think?
00:23 Dan
I think it’s more than that. Interestingly, it’s easy to blame data centers when it comes to electricity bills. Yeah, but it’s kind of a confluence of events, especially when it comes to electricity, right? Sure, there are high-performance AI data centers that come online and consume power. gigawatts of power.
00:43 Dan
But the grid is also outdated. Oh, I need to do an upgrade. So, you know, we’ve had severe weather that’s been a problem in many parts of the country. So there are multiple reasons why the power side of things is such a hot topic when it comes to data centers. But the problems are not limited to data centers. Well, water is obviously a big discussion, I get it,
01:07 Dan
Therefore, these facilities need to cool the chips and so-called liquid cooling is used. Um, they might, uh, pump water through another pipe.
01:21 Dan
It works just like a car radiator, right? It just has fluid flowing through it.
01:23 Speaker A
But Dan, I’ve heard voices against that. And people say it’s kind of like a pool. Does it feel like once you fill it up, it’s over? Is it true? Is that accurate?
01:31 Dan
Yeah, there are, uh, closed-loop systems that are going to be increasingly, uh, kind of built in places where you basically only use water for day-to-day needs, uh, sinks, right? And it’s not actually used to cool the data center, right? That’s my future thinking. And, as you know, it’s not exactly just water flowing through them. Well, there are many different types of heat dissipation fluids used.
02:04 Dan
Well, I remember once I was talking to a guy from Nvidia. So what’s in there? And he said, “Yeah, it’s basically antifreeze.” And I was like, oh, well, okay, cool. And, yeah, he was joking, but when you see this kind of backlash, I think we’ve seen it all over the country, right? That’s true in New York, but there was a backlash in Texas as well.
02:24 Speaker A
You can see the lawn sign. Take down your data center in suburban New Jersey.
02:27 Dan
In Jersey. Yeah, that’s a big thing in Jersey too. Jersey is the hub. Oh, and obviously there are a lot of Amazon warehouses. Well, coupled with the AI data centers that are being built, I think a lot of people are probably pushing back. There is a noise issue, and people who live nearby say they constantly hear a low hum. So I think this kind of backlash from residents will continue. If I bought a house and someone started building a huge data center right next door, well, I’d be pretty annoyed.
03:02 Speaker A
Ah, but in the meantime, China, yeah. And continue to actively build. Now, does this theoretically make it easier for the Chinese government to close the AI gap with the US?
03:17 Dan
Yes and no. Yeah, in terms of being able to build data centers, I mean, I’m going to complain, but guess what?
03:26 Speaker A
Well, I don’t recommend complaining in China. That usually doesn’t work.
03:29 Dan
No, it’s not, um, I don’t think Xi Jinping is going to say, okay.
03:34 Speaker A
Xi does not work by polling. Yeah. That doesn’t happen there. no.
03:37 Dan
yeah yeah. Um, I think the concern is on the back burner, and I think not having a data center means that, so now, uh, you’re just cutting off your nose to attack your own face. It’s an argument against any kind of restriction. Well, the other thing is that China doesn’t necessarily have the chips that the United States currently has. That’s why there is such a gap. Well, it could be outweighed by China being able to build more and more data centers in a wider area.
04:09 Dan
You know, if you have one data center with a high-performance Nvidia chip, but you have five data centers with slightly less powerful chips, what does that mean in terms of training and capabilities? That’s something that people need to consider in some way. If there’s a way, that’s why this whole idea of space-based data centers is so interesting. Oh, I don’t know if that’s going to happen.
04:32 Dan
Um, but the idea is, um, it doesn’t have to take up any ground space. Just throw it into the atmosphere and it will spin forever. But is it possible? Is that something that’s going to happen in the long term, or is it something that’s going to happen tomorrow when somebody starts breaking ground on a data center next to their kid’s school or something? As you know, this debate will continue. By the way, our data centers are located all over the country.
04:54 Dan
As you know, this is nothing new at all. I think the idea of AI is, if you come out with a new product and the people leading the company say, “Look, we might take your job.” By the way, it will be very close to your house. By the way, your electricity bill may also go up. That’s not necessarily the best PR, right?
05:15 Speaker A
No, as we have discussed, AI AI has a PR problem.
05:18 Dan
Yeah. Whether that’s right or wrong is not for me to say. I’m just here.
05:22 Speaker A
You just came to report.
