Energy-hungry AI firms bet on moonshot technologies

Cooling towers at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant are being rehabilitated for nuclear power generation under Microsoft. (Image: Wesley Lapointe/The Washington Post)

The Washington Post

Wed, 01 Jan 2025

By Evan HalperTechnology companies racing for advantage in artificial intelligence are struggling to find enough electricity to supply data centres – those massive, windowless buildings that contain thousands of computers running at once. A single facility often requires an entire city’s worth of energy. Data centres are projected to consume as much as 17% of all US electricity by 2030.With energy shortages threatening AI progress, tech leaders are investing in moonshot projects that aim to deliver huge amounts of power in just a fe...

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