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There are other factors too, for example I can't imagine that there are many protests in China against building data centers.

hnynf 3mo ago
In China, no one opposes construction because data centers do not compete with the public for electricity.hhh~~
linzhangrun 3mo ago
The idea of people protesting these things in China is simply a fantasy. People always just accept and carry out what government want.
- weird-eye-issue 3mo ago
  Yep that was my point
byzantinegene 3mo ago
it's not like the protests are working anyway
podocarp 3mo ago
You can avoid that if you just plonk them in the desert, where there's also probably infinite solar E.g. https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2025-china-data-centers-nvidia-chips/ https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2025-china-data-centers-n...
- tim-projects 3mo ago
  America has plenty of desert. Wierd that it's not used.
  - throw2ih020 3mo ago
    Oh, they're trying, and the locals are not happy, due to both the rise in electricity usage (mostly NOT solar) and environmental damage. Look up the datacenter planned in Box Elder County, Utah.
- ButlerianJihad 3mo ago
  Great, so you plonk data centers into the desert. Now you need to cool them, and bestow them with excellent network connectivity. Those are things that isolated, arid locations cannot do very well. So, plonking data centers into the desert (or on orbit) isn't really a silver bullet, is it?
  - AlotOfReading 3mo ago
    China has an explicit national policy to build high bandwidth network connections across the arid Western half of the country called the digital silk road. And on the scale of China's other projects in the west (e.g. mining, large scale agriculture, chemical plants), the water usage of a data center or ten is a rounding error. I don't know if they're actually building AI DCs out there, but it doesn't seem completely unreasonable like you're suggesting.
    - ButlerianJihad 3mo ago
      > doesn't seem completely unreasonable Of course it doesn't seem completely unreasonable to build out power distribution, cooling, and high-bandwidth network interconnects throughout a region, but once you've done that, you are no longer facing the empty, barren desert scenario. So if China builds out infrastructure that can be maintained in perpetuity, then more power to them, and the NIMBYs won't have a leg to stand on. Conversely, in these United States, I've seen literal tons of data centers being plonked into urban centers: literally at intersections where lots of people drive by in daily commutes, there are data centers now where there weren't before, and they are also found on the outskirts of civilization, because they require more security than accessibility. So data center siting can take multiple factors into account here, depending on their purpose. And can we please stop hammering on the "AI Data Center" meme, because in my experience, a DC is a DC, whether they choose to make it AI or not AI, they're probably all AI from now on, but it just adds fuel to the Luddite fires to say so...
ZeroGravitas 3mo ago
The standard narrative on air pollution in China is that they had to act to clean it up as it was causing unrest amongst the population. I don't see why the same couldn't happen if they let datacentres drive up energy costs or have other widespread impacts.
- weird-eye-issue 3mo ago
  Are you implying air pollution in China is not bad anymore? I wish that was the case because I would visit a lot more but you need to educate yourself a little bit just go look here: https://aqicn.org/map/china/ https://aqicn.org/map/china/ I'm sure it's better than it was before and it's not India bad but it's almost always considered unhealthy in most parts throughout the whole year

hnynf 3mo ago

In China, no one opposes construction because data centers do not compete with the public for electricity.hhh~~

linzhangrun 3mo ago

The idea of people protesting these things in China is simply a fantasy. People always just accept and carry out what government want.

weird-eye-issue 3mo ago
Yep that was my point

byzantinegene 3mo ago

it's not like the protests are working anyway

podocarp 3mo ago

You can avoid that if you just plonk them in the desert, where there's also probably infinite solar E.g. https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2025-china-data-centers-nvidia-chips/ https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2025-china-data-centers-n...

tim-projects 3mo ago
America has plenty of desert. Wierd that it's not used.
- throw2ih020 3mo ago
  Oh, they're trying, and the locals are not happy, due to both the rise in electricity usage (mostly NOT solar) and environmental damage. Look up the datacenter planned in Box Elder County, Utah.
ButlerianJihad 3mo ago
Great, so you plonk data centers into the desert. Now you need to cool them, and bestow them with excellent network connectivity. Those are things that isolated, arid locations cannot do very well. So, plonking data centers into the desert (or on orbit) isn't really a silver bullet, is it?
- AlotOfReading 3mo ago
  China has an explicit national policy to build high bandwidth network connections across the arid Western half of the country called the digital silk road. And on the scale of China's other projects in the west (e.g. mining, large scale agriculture, chemical plants), the water usage of a data center or ten is a rounding error. I don't know if they're actually building AI DCs out there, but it doesn't seem completely unreasonable like you're suggesting.
  - ButlerianJihad 3mo ago
    > doesn't seem completely unreasonable Of course it doesn't seem completely unreasonable to build out power distribution, cooling, and high-bandwidth network interconnects throughout a region, but once you've done that, you are no longer facing the empty, barren desert scenario. So if China builds out infrastructure that can be maintained in perpetuity, then more power to them, and the NIMBYs won't have a leg to stand on. Conversely, in these United States, I've seen literal tons of data centers being plonked into urban centers: literally at intersections where lots of people drive by in daily commutes, there are data centers now where there weren't before, and they are also found on the outskirts of civilization, because they require more security than accessibility. So data center siting can take multiple factors into account here, depending on their purpose. And can we please stop hammering on the "AI Data Center" meme, because in my experience, a DC is a DC, whether they choose to make it AI or not AI, they're probably all AI from now on, but it just adds fuel to the Luddite fires to say so...

ZeroGravitas 3mo ago

The standard narrative on air pollution in China is that they had to act to clean it up as it was causing unrest amongst the population. I don't see why the same couldn't happen if they let datacentres drive up energy costs or have other widespread impacts.

weird-eye-issue 3mo ago
Are you implying air pollution in China is not bad anymore? I wish that was the case because I would visit a lot more but you need to educate yourself a little bit just go look here: https://aqicn.org/map/china/ https://aqicn.org/map/china/ I'm sure it's better than it was before and it's not India bad but it's almost always considered unhealthy in most parts throughout the whole year