The datacentre next door: on the frontline of tech’s latest David v Goliath battle
Reported by The Guardian Business, not nibnow. We are not the publisher of this story, only the source is.
Local residents in Newport are seeing their neighbourhoods transformed by large, energy‑intensive datacentres built to support the AI boom, affecting their quality of life and environment.
The AI boom is pitting local residents against corporate giants seeking to power their energy-hungry networks – but one Welsh city is fighting back Dale Johnston opens the gate to his neat suburban garden on the western fringes of Newport in South Wales. There’s a trampoline and a slide on the lawn for his grandchildren, and chairs for him and his wife. He should be enjoying the light draining from the perfect autumnal sky – but almost his entire view is blotted out by a vast expanse of prefabri
Datacentres house the servers that run AI models and other online services, and they require substantial electricity, so their rapid expansion can create tension between communities and the corporations that build them.
- •Decisions by Newport city officials on planning permissions for new datacentres
- •Community actions or protests against existing or proposed facilities
- •Regulatory or policy responses aimed at balancing AI infrastructure growth with local environmental concerns