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Arizona residents oppose new data centres

What happened

AI digest

The Verge reported on 29 October 2026 that Arizona already has 172 data centres, and a new wave of hyperscale data centres between Phoenix and Tucson is facing joint opposition from residents of both parties because of their greater demands for water, power and land. According to the report, TSMC's Phoenix wafer fab draws nearly 5 million gallons of water a day from the municipal supply, making chips the state's sixth "C" after cattle, copper, cotton, citrus and climate. Arizona is set to lose about 30% of its Colorado River water. The report also mentions that Google's data centre in The Dalles, Oregon, uses about 1.5 million gallons of water a day. The current development is that local residents are voicing opposition to the water stress from new data centres.

Written by AI from the reports · updated 2 h ago

Timeline

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Oct 29
  1. The Verge · AI
    AI has come for Arizona’s water

    A hulking gray giant rises from the desert. Inside, engineers create the force behind our phones and computers and appliances, our streaming services and search engines and chatbots and vibe-coded apps and websites. The complex is simultaneously massive and squat, dwarfed by the mountains that surround it, and it is endless.

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