News Summary

• Data centers have gotten so large that their power demands now rival entire U.S. states.
• When completed, Meta’s new AI data center will draw as much electricity as South Dakota.
• Last week, Meta announced it would fund seven natural gas power plants to support the $27 billion data center.Natural gas has been hailed as a “bridge fuel” — build a few power plants now while renewables, batteries, and nuclear get their legs under them.
• But people have been making the bridge fuel argument for decades, and it's wearing a little thin.