Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group plans to hire bankers to arrange financing deals for data centers as Japan’s biggest bank jumps on the artificial intelligence boom. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2026/02/06/companies/mitsubishi-ufj-data-center-finance/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #business #companies #mufg #datacenters #banks #ai
Although it is important to oppose data centres based on the detrimental effect of their water usage on local communities, in the end I fear this will simply lead to an increase in CO2 emissions: the data centres will still be built but they will be cooled using a closed circuit so that the water usage is no longer an issue.
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This is inefficient compared to evaporation cooling, so the data centre's power usage effectiveness goes up. The result is that it uses more energy for the same compute task. And in the short term, that energy is still majority from fossil fuel and increasingly likely to be provided by gas rather than by renewables, in particular in the US. So overall CO2 emissions will increase as a result.
Although it is important to oppose data centres based on the detrimental effect of their water usage on local communities, in the end I fear this will simply lead to an increase in CO2 emissions: the data centres will still be built but they will be cooled using a closed circuit so that the water usage is no longer an issue.
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🏭 US Leads Record Global Surge in Gas-Fired Power Driven by AI Demands - Slashdot
｢ The US is at the forefront of a global push for gas that is set to escalate over the next five years, after tripling its planned gas-fired capacity in 2025.
Much of this new capacity will be devoted to the vast electricity needs of AI, with a third of the 252 gigawatts of gas power in development set to be situated on site at datacenters ｣
Chewie
boosted
Many institutions are committed to #sustainability.
For this reason alone, #digitalsovereignty should be important to them.
Two years ago, scientists from @JLBe and its network published a study on the sustainable use of #smartphones.
👉 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/sd.2995
It showed that typical #socialmedia apps such as #Instagram, #TikTok, #YouTube, etc. on #cellphones conflict with a number of sustainability goals.
Among other things, they cause high #energy consumption, which is not incurred directly on the smartphone, but in #datacenters and transmission networks. A large proportion of the #electricity consumption is due to the fact that these apps do not respect #privacy and data protection, but instead spy on users.
The use of #Mastodon and other #Fediverse services is more sustainable because much less data is exchanged between users' smartphones and the service instances.
Many institutions are committed to #sustainability.
For this reason alone, #digitalsovereignty should be important to them.
Two years ago, scientists from @JLBe and its network published a study on the sustainable use of #smartphones.
👉 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/sd.2995
It showed that typical #socialmedia apps such as #Instagram, #TikTok, #YouTube, etc. on #cellphones conflict with a number of sustainability goals.
Among other things, they cause high #energy consumption, which is not incurred directly on the smartphone, but in #datacenters and transmission networks. A large proportion of the #electricity consumption is due to the fact that these apps do not respect #privacy and data protection, but instead spy on users.
The use of #Mastodon and other #Fediverse services is more sustainable because much less data is exchanged between users' smartphones and the service instances.
Cory Doctorow
boosted
@pluralistic > Disenshittification Nation (29 Jan 2026):
Like all the best Americans, I am a Canadian, and while I have lived abroad for more than two decades, I flatter myself that I am still steeped in our folkways, and so as is traditional at events like this, I would like to begin by apologising... I'm sorry... I'm really sorry... I know that at a tech event, you expect to hear from a speaker who will come up and tell you how to lose hundreds of billions of dollars building data-centres for the money-losingest technology in human history, a technology so wildly defective that we've had to come up with new, exotic words to describe its defects, like "hallucination." A technology that will never recoup the capex already firehosed on – let alone the trillions committed to it – and whose only possible path to glory is to somehow get so good that it makes millions of people unemployed... But don't worry: you can't make the word-guessing program into a "superintelligence" by shoveling more words into it...
#artificialTechnology #enshittification #disenshittification #counterdisruption #datacenters #workers #laborNews #tech #techNews #dmca #techHistory
https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/29/post-american-canada/#ottawa
@pluralistic > Disenshittification Nation (29 Jan 2026):
Like all the best Americans, I am a Canadian, and while I have lived abroad for more than two decades, I flatter myself that I am still steeped in our folkways, and so as is traditional at events like this, I would like to begin by apologising... I'm sorry... I'm really sorry... I know that at a tech event, you expect to hear from a speaker who will come up and tell you how to lose hundreds of billions of dollars building data-centres for the money-losingest technology in human history, a technology so wildly defective that we've had to come up with new, exotic words to describe its defects, like "hallucination." A technology that will never recoup the capex already firehosed on – let alone the trillions committed to it – and whose only possible path to glory is to somehow get so good that it makes millions of people unemployed... But don't worry: you can't make the word-guessing program into a "superintelligence" by shoveling more words into it...
#artificialTechnology #enshittification #disenshittification #counterdisruption #datacenters #workers #laborNews #tech #techNews #dmca #techHistory
https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/29/post-american-canada/#ottawa
Wladimir Mufty
and 1 other
boosted
Vanavond vindt in de Tweede Kamer een rondetafelgesprek plaats over de voorgenomen overname van Solvinity door het Amerikaanse Kyndryl. Solvinity beheert kritieke IT voor onder meer DigiD en het Ministerie van Justitie en Veiligheid, waaronder het OM. De zorgen over digitale autonomie zijn niet nieuw.
Al jaren waarschuwt BIT, samen met veel andere partijen uit de internetsector, voor de risico’s van afhankelijkheid van Amerikaanse hyperscalers. Recente ontwikkelingen laten zien dat deze waarschuwingen realiteit zijn geworden.
Lees via onderstaande link ons volledige blog met de mondelinge bijdrage van BIT aan het gesprek met Tweede Kamerleden, waarin we uiteenzetten dat Europese cloud- en IT-diensten al lang beschikbaar zijn, en welke keuzes nu nodig zijn.
Vanavond vindt in de Tweede Kamer een rondetafelgesprek plaats over de voorgenomen overname van Solvinity door het Amerikaanse Kyndryl. Solvinity beheert kritieke IT voor onder meer DigiD en het Ministerie van Justitie en Veiligheid, waaronder het OM. De zorgen over digitale autonomie zijn niet nieuw.
Al jaren waarschuwt BIT, samen met veel andere partijen uit de internetsector, voor de risico’s van afhankelijkheid van Amerikaanse hyperscalers. Recente ontwikkelingen laten zien dat deze waarschuwingen realiteit zijn geworden.
Lees via onderstaande link ons volledige blog met de mondelinge bijdrage van BIT aan het gesprek met Tweede Kamerleden, waarin we uiteenzetten dat Europese cloud- en IT-diensten al lang beschikbaar zijn, en welke keuzes nu nodig zijn.
SoftBank Group has halted talks about an acquisition of U.S. data center operator Switch, a setback to founder Masayoshi Son’s ambition to roll out Stargate artificial intelligence infrastructure. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2026/01/26/companies/softbank-halted-talks-switch-acquisition/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #business #companies #softbank #investments #datacenters
Pierre Boudes
boosted
« Ce n’est pas parce qu’on a des data centers en France qu’on est souverain de quoi que ce soit. »
Ces mots, ce sont ceux de la coprésidente de @dataforgood, qui organisait le 21 janvier un colloque sur les enjeux politiques et stratégiques de l’IA à l'Assemblée nationale.
La veille, une commission mixte paritaire discutait du projet de loi de simplification de la vie économique, dont l'article 15 concerne directement les #datacenters
« Ce n’est pas parce qu’on a des data centers en France qu’on est souverain de quoi que ce soit. »
Ces mots, ce sont ceux de la coprésidente de @dataforgood, qui organisait le 21 janvier un colloque sur les enjeux politiques et stratégiques de l’IA à l'Assemblée nationale.
La veille, une commission mixte paritaire discutait du projet de loi de simplification de la vie économique, dont l'article 15 concerne directement les #datacenters
Alors que souveraineté numérique et autonomie stratégique européenne sont sur toutes les lèvres, le projet de loi fait désormais des #datacenters des projets d'intérêt national majeur.
En allégeant leurs obligations (notamment environnementales), cela doit simplifier leur installation. Et ce, quel que soit le pays d'origine de leurs promoteurs.
2 media
« Ce n’est pas parce qu’on a des data centers en France qu’on est souverain de quoi que ce soit. »
Ces mots, ce sont ceux de la coprésidente de @dataforgood, qui organisait le 21 janvier un colloque sur les enjeux politiques et stratégiques de l’IA à l'Assemblée nationale.
La veille, une commission mixte paritaire discutait du projet de loi de simplification de la vie économique, dont l'article 15 concerne directement les #datacenters
dch :flantifa: :flan_hacker:
boosted
Ready to push against surveillance-driven corporations profiting on stolen land, stolen resources and YOUR STOLEN DATA? 👀❌💸
Join @scienceforthepeople and @ResearchForTheFrontLines for a free, two-part beginner-friendly workshop that breaks down the mysteries of servers and guides you through the benefits and basics of building your own at-home/in-community server. 🛠️👩🏻💻
Online (EST) and in-person
Saturday, February 28
#workshop #server #selfhosting #datacentres #datacenters #GenAI #surveillance
2 media
2026, is it the year of the small language model, but maybe also the tiny data centre? Can we repurpose derelict buildings and bring data centres closer to the user? Will AI be processed on devices? The @BBCNews’s @zsk talked to a group of tech folk about the wee data centre alternative. Read the article "Honey, I shrunk the data centres: Is small the new big?" https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd0ynenr1eno
#datacentres #AI #datacenters #opensource #opensourceai
The title is, of course, clickbait, but this video from More Perfect Union is a great, balanced, and researched take on the supposed benefits to communities of building datacenters.
https://youtu.be/wLX_w0TtBpY?si=JwrTIH6FiiBthTnd
Shout out to my union relative Shannon Walt! #AWU #Datacenters #UnionStrong #PerfectUnion
Trump and the governors of several US states agreed to push PJM for an emergency wholesale electricity auction that would compel technology companies to effectively fund new power plants.
“While a ‘statement of principles’ doesn’t appear to include a legal mandate for PJM to act, pressure from the Trump administration and a bipartisan coalition of PJM states is very likely to motivate a considerable response”
