Pillsbury’s experience with data centers dates to the dot-com era. Since then, we’ve counseled the industry as proprietary centers were supplemented, and in some cases supplanted, by physical and cloud-based systems of larger dedicated enterprises. The data center landscape is now international in scope and diverse in speciation, with edge,…
It seems like such a simple question. Who owns data centers? Ownership structures in the digital economy are more varied than might appear on the surface. While the largest computing and cloud service providers, such as Apple, Amazon (AWS), Microsoft (Azure) and Google (Cloud)—also known as “hyperscalers”—do own and operate…
The rapid growth of electricity demand from data centers has emerged as a major challenge for the U.S. power sector. Much of this demand is being driven by the deployment of large learning models (LLMs) and generative artificial intelligence (AI). These workloads require large-volume, high-uptime computational infrastructure, and correspondingly large,…
Data centers use various chemicals that have recently been the focus of regulatory efforts at the federal and state level. The historic or future use of these chemicals may create liabilities, obligations, or new costs for both existing and planned data centers. PFAS Use in Data Centers Per- and polyfluoroalkyl…
The ever-increasing demand for digital infrastructure, coupled with continuing cryptocurrency demand volatility, has generated significant interest in transforming building improvements housing crypto mining farms into modern high-capacity data centers. Crypto mines and data centers share certain foundational elements—facilities with a large footprint and the need for high power capacity and…
On April 7, the Office of Policy for U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published a Request for Information (RFI) seeking input from industry professionals, grid operators, local communities, Tribal governments, and other stakeholders regarding the development and operation of AI infrastructure—including data centers—on DOE-owned or managed lands. This initiative aligns…
By one count, worldwide there were some 11,800 data centers in early 2024. Within that census are facilities so small that they fit in office building closets, while others are among the largest manmade structures on the planet. How are we to make sense of this diverse population? Data centers…
As we covered previously, President Trump has made clear that the U.S. is focused on increasing investments into building, scaling and speeding the development of AI infrastructure and data centers in the U.S., and Big Tech is responding in kind. On Monday, Apple announced its largest-ever spend commitment: $500 billion…
Last week, on one of his final days in office, President Biden signed an executive order aimed at boosting the development of energy facilities and data centers for artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Executive Order 14141 directs the secretaries of Defense, Energy and the Interior to lease sites on federal land…
Traditional and social media are thick with reports and predictions of the remarkable increase in size, power consumption and significance of data centers. Not only technology companies but real estate and energy developers, investment funds, lenders, and professionals of all stripes are in or determined to enter this sector. Our…