This State Surprisingly Houses More Data Centers Than Anywhere Else On Earth

The words "Data Center" are likely to inspire intense feelings in many, as questions continue to surround the potentially damaging environmental impact of such operations. They are, after all, known to consume massive amounts of energy and water, while producing troubling levels of climate-change-driving greenhouse gases. Nonetheless, data centers are deemed a necessary evil, as the technological demands of the modern world have continued to bolster not only their importance, but their commercial value, with many major corporations making a mint in the data center sector.

The big business aspect of data centers has led to a legitimate construction boom for those companies, with the massive buildings designed to hold the endless rows of server stacks and networking devices that process the terabytes of data transferred across all parts of the globe daily, have been springing up with staggering regularity in recent years. And according to reports, the units have been popping up in one seemingly A.I.-obsessed U.S. state more than any other part of the world.

It may surprise you to learn that said state is Virginia, and not some Western locale closer to one of the current hotbeds of big tech, or even some non-U.S. spot where land might be had at less of a premium. At present, there are reported to be nearly 600 data centers spread across the state in various shapes and sizes, and there are ongoing plans to expand on that already massive number.

While Virginia may not be the most obvious geographical location for a data center boom, there are a few aspects of the state that make it an ideal spot to build. Chief among them is the fact that Virginia, particularly the Northern parts of the state, had long been a hotbed of activity for internet progenitors like America Online. Once those groundwork-laying factions went on their merry way, they left most of their infrastructure behind, with many data center purveyors leveraging that to their advantage.

Along with that, the region had long been known for boasting reasonable energy rates. Likewise, at least prior to the building boom, there was a surprising amount of relatively cheap land available for development. As Harvard Business School professor Shane Greenstein recently told Inside Climate News, the plan included a massive swathe of land adjacent to Dulles International Airport, which has indeed become a fixture in Northern Virginia's so-called Data Center Alley. Along with the infrastructure and land, Virginia's close proximity to deal makers working in Washington, D.C., also made it a good place for tech factions to set up shop.

There are, of course, many Virginians who are none too pleased about the continued building of the massive structures, which are fast encroaching on suburban and rural neighborhoods and clogging up once serene landscapes. Some even argue the benefits of building the structures at all, as they don't really contribute to local employment numbers, and, in some cases, can dramatically inflate the cost of energy while consuming massive amounts of water, though Amazon at least has begun to course-correct on that last issue.