Arizona residents resist new data centers over scarce water
Original title: AI has come for Arizona’s water
TSMC’s Arizona complex uses nearly 5 million gallons a day, while some hyperscale sites use about 1.5 million.
A feature contrasts Phoenix’s welcome for TSMC with growing bipartisan opposition to newer, larger data-center proposals from Phoenix to Tucson. TSMC’s Arizona spend projection rose from an initial $12 billion by 2029 to $265 billion, which the company calls the largest foreign direct investment in US history. Residents cite water, power, and land as the state faces losing nearly 30 percent of its Colorado River supply. The piece says TSMC still draws little opposition.
Unconfirmed: Job, tax, and water claims include developer assurances and local officials’ accounts, not independently verified totals.
- Arizona has 172 data centers, the feature reports.
- Google’s facility in The Dalles uses about 1.5 million gallons a day.
- TSMC’s second Phoenix fab is finished, with a third under construction.
- Phoenix economic development pursued TSMC after a 2016 site search failed.
- Vendors
- TSMC
- Countries
- United StatesTaiwan
From the original article
14 min read at theverge.com
A hulking gray giant rises from the desert. Inside, engineers create the force behind our phones and computers and appliances, our streaming services and search engines and chatbots and vibe-coded apps and websites. The complex is simultaneously massive and squat, dwarfed by the mountains that surround it, and it is endless.
By Gaby Del Valle · theverge.com
A short excerpt; the article and its images belong to the publisher. Summary, key facts and assessment above are AI-written from the article and can be wrong.