Data Centre Entanglements

Abstract Data centres are involved in the sorting, sifting, storage, aggregation, and monetisation of all transactional data that is absolutely critical to data capitalism. Data centres are fundamentally resource-intensive and deploy extractive technologies that consume vast amounts of energy—in particular water and power. This book deals with the external challenges faced by data centres, in particular their geopolitics, including contemporary struggles between China and the US to become the world’s data hegemon, supply chain issues related to critical minerals and semiconductors, and internal issues including that of data centre sustainability. This latter issue is particularly acute in countries in both the Global North and South that are facing significant water and power stresses. The special relationship that data centres, in particular hyperscale data centres owned by Big Tech, have with the state is reflected in the migration of public data, even defence data to privately owned data centres. This book deals with this special relationship with the state in the context of data localisation, data sovereignty, risk, the politics of greening and renewable energy, and the incentives offered, including access to subsidised land, tax breaks, and unrestricted labour supply. The impact of data centres on the environment has been the basis for many data activisms in Dublin, West Virginia, Santiago, and Amsterdam and the book includes a chapter on such contentious actions. The book concludes with a chapter on the democratisation of data centres and makes a case for diversity in data centre ownership, including community-based ownership.