{"id":16717,"date":"2026-07-25T11:23:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T06:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=16717"},"modified":"2026-07-25T11:23:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T06:23:17","slug":"what-its-like-inside-the-data-centers-powering-the-ai-boom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=16717","title":{"rendered":"What it&#039;s like inside the data centers powering the AI boom"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>ASHBURN, Va.<\/strong><em> \u2013 <\/em>A test server hall tucked inside America&#8217;s &#8220;data center alley&#8221; offers a rare firsthand look inside the AI boom.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters:<\/strong> Seeing how <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/technology\/automation-and-ai\" target=\"_blank\">AI<\/a> is physically made helps sharpen our understanding of the unprecedented data center buildout that is becoming increasingly unpopular around the country.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Behind the scenes:<\/strong> I recently toured an innovation lab by Digital Realty in Northern Virginia, home to the world&#8217;s largest concentration of data centers.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Digital Realty is one of the world&#8217;s oldest and most established data center operators.<\/li>\n<li>The lab, which opened in September, allows the company to test new technologies and show visitors \u2014 like customers, lawmakers and journalists \u2014 what it&#8217;s like to be inside.<\/li>\n<li>A similar one opened in London in June.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Inside the room: <\/strong>I was immediately hit with what I can only describe as &#8220;demented white noise.&#8221;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The sound comes from fans cooling racks of AI chips that generate enormous amounts of heat.<\/li>\n<li>It felt like standing inside one giant computer. Even beneath my feet, a glass floor revealed pipes and other infrastructure helping keep the servers cool.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Zoom in:<\/strong> At the bottom of one of the closet-sized racks sat a gold-colored Nvidia AI system packed with multiple AI chips. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The gold is intentional \u2014 but not real. &#8220;Gold is associated with high value and performance,&#8221; Nvidia spokesperson Kira Sarkisian said by email.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;That&#8217;s about $1 million right there,&#8221; said my tour guide, Digital Realty engineer Tor Nystr\u00f6m, referring to the entire rack.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/Lco-oyvUezOAs59ngW3Jys_vxDI=\/2026\/07\/22\/1784745006285.jpeg\"> <\/p>\n<div>From L to R: Inside the lab with a glass floor exposing the closed-loop cooling system of pipes and the server racks on either side; A close-up of the golden Nvidia AI system; A full rack of AI infrastructure one engineer estimated costs about $1 million. Photos: Amy Harder\/Axios<\/div>\n<p><strong>Reality check:<\/strong> Getting inside a data center is not easy.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Some companies flatly declined my request for a tour, while others require signing a non-disclosure agreement to get inside the walls of a campus (server halls are typically off-limits altogether).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Friction point: <\/strong>This <a href=\"https:\/\/insideclimatenews.org\/news\/13072026\/alabama-data-center-non-disclosure-agreement\/\" target=\"_blank\">type of secrecy<\/a> is part of what&#8217;s fueling the backlash against data centers, alongside strains on electricity and local water supplies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>My thought bubble:<\/strong> Digital Realty let me photograph its innovation lab and tour a nearby campus under construction. I came away convinced companies can show the public how these facilities work without revealing proprietary information.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The big picture:<\/strong> AI feels invisible. It isn&#8217;t. It&#8217;s racks of servers, cables, cooling systems and enormous amounts of electricity \u2014 and sometimes water.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Compared with an offshore wind farm or an underground coal mine, it&#8217;s remarkably uneventful. That&#8217;s by design. <\/li>\n<li>If excitement is happening inside a data center, something has probably gone wrong.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Zoom out:<\/strong> After the tour of the test server hall, we drove a few miles to what Digital Realty calls its Digital Dulles campus, which could eventually include 13 data centers with an investment north of $10 billion over the next decade.<\/p>\n<p><strong>State of play:<\/strong> The most notable parts of a data center are also the most controversial: the infrastructure needed to power and cool AI. Otherwise, from the outside, data centers look like massive, windowless warehouses.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Multiple electricity substations are visible, along with whatever cooling technology is used, which includes either huge water-filled cooling tours or rows of dozens of industrial air conditioners that require large amounts of power.<\/li>\n<li>Although plans are still being finalized, Digital Realty anticipates these data centers will use a type of cooling that relies more on energy than water.<\/li>\n<li>This means no huge cooling towers were on site, which would be easily visible at those that do use water-based cooling.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Stunning stat: <\/strong>I counted almost 40 diesel generators hooked up to one data center building.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Digital Realty spokesman Kevin Gundersen said those are only used for backup power purposes and occasional testing, so they aren&#8217;t on most of the time.<\/li>\n<li>Normally, the campus draws power from the broader electricity grid. In Virginia, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eia.gov\/states\/VA\/overview\" target=\"_blank\">that&#8217;s largely<\/a> natural gas and nuclear power.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/DGGnAQrJRxud9sxPqhEextoR3us=\/2026\/07\/22\/1784746131290.jpeg\"> <\/p>\n<div>A row of nearly 40 diesel generators are attached to this Digital Realty data center near Dulles Airport in Virginia. Photo: Amy Harder\/Axios<\/div>\n<p><strong>What&#8217;s next:<\/strong> In a sign of the AI&#8217;s global footprint, Digital Realty is eyeing at least three more locations for new innovation labs: Singapore, S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil and Johannesburg, South Africa.<\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ASHBURN, Va. \u2013 A test server hall tucked inside America&#8217;s &#8220;data center alley&#8221; offers a rare firsthand look inside the AI boom. Why it matters: Seeing how AI is physically made helps sharpen our understanding of the unprecedented data center buildout that is becoming increasingly unpopular around the country. Behind the scenes: I recently toured&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/Lco-oyvUezOAs59ngW3Jys_vxDI=\/2026\/07\/22\/1784745006285.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}