The gigantic growth of data centers and other infrastructure necessary for the expansion of AI is causing an increase in the price of computers, laptops, tablets, phones smart and other electronic devices. AI companies are multiplying their million-dollar investments to acquire memory chips, semiconductors and other components that are essential for their technology, but also to manufacture the devices that we use most every day. Massive spending on AI is also expected to continue putting upward pressure on US inflation.
“The increase in the cost of chips is a worrying point because it affects the economy of consumers. In Peru, today there are no longer computers for less than a thousand soles and if there are they use old technology. This is due to the rise in chip prices, which will continue to increase because the data centers or datacenters They demand the use of a large number of chips,” Juan Carlos Luján, Peruvian communicator and disseminator on topics related to generative AI, explains to El Comercio.
At the heart of the AI revolution are precisely the data centers. We connect to them every time we use ChatGPT or Gemini to perform a task. In addition to a large amount of hardware, its operation requires enormous volumes of water and energy, something that is increasingly generating rejection among citizens around the world.
The International Energy Agency projects that data center electricity consumption will double by 2030.
Angry consumers
In USAthe concern goes beyond political colors. Consumers denounce the increase in public service bills – mainly electricity – due to the data centers of AI. Added to this are fears about water waste and the effect that superstructures and physical facilities designed to develop large-scale generative AI may have on their communities.
IN NUMBERS
- The four big technology companies (Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms and Microsoft) are expected to invest $720 billion this year, mostly in data centers.
- Prices for memory and storage chips have quadrupled in the last year.
- Apple increased the prices of some laptop and tablet models by $200 or more in June.
- Only one in three Americans approve of the accelerated pace of construction of data centers that support artificial intelligence, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll published in June.
- There are 710 data centers in operation in the United States and another 1,062 projects planned, according to Cleanview, a research company that tracks data centers.
Sources: “The New York Times” / Reuters
“To give a very illustrative example, the creation of a single artificial image in Gemini or Chat GPT is equivalent to charging a cell phone. This gives us an idea of the energy consumption that this technology has through its data centerswhich are the ones that normally cause everything from the problem of chip shortage to questions about the high consumption of electrical energy,” says Luján, who emphasizes that these centers They use refrigeration or large amounts of water to achieve the cooling they require to function.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly important for various areas of daily life. (Image: Freepik)
A little over a week ago, the commissioners of Palm Beach County, in southern Florida, rejected the expansion of Project Tango, which seeks to build a data center of artificial intelligence hyperscale next to an urbanization and a primary school. The disapproval of these centers has been expressed in dozens of states of USAwhere the authorities are already working to stop or condition its expansion.
President Donald Trump, for whom these claims have become a thorn in the side ahead of the midterm elections, this week convinced 23 governors and dozens of electric companies and developers data centers to join a commitment to protect consumers. Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, xAI, OpenAI and Amazon have pledged that citizens will not bear the cost of data center expansion.
Despite the high costs to sustain the advancement of AILuján believes that humanity is in the process of adapting to integrating this technology. “At the time it was like that with the train. If we go back to history, many people in the 19th century believed that those who traveled on a train were going to suffer mental consequences due to the noise or the displacement. It was something new, mysterious, but in the end people adapted to the train. It is a fact that a technology like AI is going to bring with it these types of concerns. Data centers will probably continue to grow until other types of solutions are found to maintain the development of AI,” he concludes.
