Opinion: In Defense of Data Centers

American companies are at present engaged in a building spree that puts all prior building sprees to shame. In scale and in speed, the current investment in artificial intelligence eclipses the construction of the railroads, the development of the interstate highway system, the Apollo program, the electrification of the United States, and the Manhattan Project. Per CBRE, “hyperscaler” tech companies are set to spend nearly $4 trillion on AI infrastructure over the next five years alone. Once complete, this investment will ensure that the United States leads the world in AI, as it has led the world in computing since the end of World War II.