May 30, 2023 Microsoft Azure
Following Human Rights Watch’s call for Microsoft to suspend plans in Saudi Arabia, 17 more groups have now joined the campaign, citing human rights concerns. The human rights groups have highlighted the government’s track record of infiltrating technology programs for spying purposes and its...
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May 27, 2023 Microsoft Azure
Microsoft has signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Contact Energy for geothermal energy in New Zealand. The 10-year PPA was reportedly signed in September 2022 and will see Contact provide Microsoft with all the renewable energy attributes generated by Contact's new 51.4MW Te Huka Unit 3...
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May 25, 2023 Northern Virginia
The Virginian county of Culpeper may soon see the construction of more than four million square feet of data centers. The Culpeper Town and County Councils have received rezoning requests that would enable the construction of approximately 17 buildings on two campuses on the town's border...
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May 15, 2023 Northern Virginia
A poll of Northern Virginia residents by the National Parks Conservation Association has found that the majority oppose the development of data centers near public land, including national parks. The survey polled 300 voters from several Northern Virginia jurisdictions. Of those polled, 77%...
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May 14, 2023 Microsoft Azure
A bill submitted Monday would exclude data center equipment, software, and other costs from state sales and use taxes. Microsoft's projected Mount Pleasant data center would presumably benefit first. The bill's creators, Rep. Shannon Zimmerman, R-River Falls, and Sen. Romaine Robert Quinn,...
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May 14, 2023 Northern Virginia
Spotsylvania County officials are planning to capitalize on data center building expansion. They are modifying the county's Comprehensive Plan as part of their efforts. The county Planning Commission scheduled data center-specific Comprehensive Plan amendment public hearings Wednesday night after...
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May 12, 2023 Microsoft Azure
Microsoft has made a world first by inking a PPA deal with Helion for electricity from the company's first commercial fusion power plant. Scheduled to come online in 2028, the giant has been promised to receive 50MW or greater from the plant after a one-year ramp-up. This technology has been long...
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May 12, 2023 Northern Virginia
According to a report by FFXNow, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is set to look into the environmental impact of data centers in the midst of its ongoing data center boom. This week, following a unanimously approved motion introduced by Board Chairman Jeff McKay, county staff were...
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April 27, 2023 Microsoft Azure
Microsoft has announced that it has opened its first data center region in Poland, which consists of three independent physical locations around Warsaw. The giant shared that this expansion is in response to the growing demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and fast and reliable access to...
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April 25, 2023 Microsoft Azure
After what has been a long road, potted with controversy and setbacks, Microsoft has obtained construction permission for its data center in the Hollands Kroon area in the north of the Netherlands, after a protracted permitting process. While permission has now been granted, back in 2021, the...
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April 25, 2023 Northern Virginia
The debate surrounding the construction of a massive data center facility in Prince William County persists. Tuesday evening, residents planned to hold a protest against the Prince William Digital Gateway prior to a developer-hosted open house. Maureen Umeh of FOX 5 reports that the controversy...
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April 19, 2023 Microsoft Azure
In Racine County, Microsoft's $1 billion data center campus in Wisconsin has been given the go-ahead by The Racine County Board of Supervisors after initially receiving Village Board approval. As per the deal, the tech giant will begin the first phase of construction by July 2026, with the second...
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April 18, 2023 Microsoft Azure
Following news that Microsoft has acquired over 30 more acres of land in Chicago, Illinois, it is believed that the giant will be expanding its data center presence in the region. The land, purchased for $41.5 million, is reportedly set to house two 207,000-square-foot (19,230 sqm) data centers....
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April 14, 2023 Microsoft Azure
Microsoft's new cloud data center region in Saudi Arabia has faced criticism since the tech giant announced its plans in early February. Now, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called for Microsoft to suspend its investment in the country until it can "clearly demonstrate" how it plans to mitigate the...
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April 14, 2023 Microsoft Azure
Authomize, a leading cloud security and authorization platform, has announced that its services are now available in Microsoft data centers in Australia. This expansion brings Authomize's innovative platform closer to Australian businesses seeking advanced security solutions. According to the...
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April 13, 2023 Northern Virginia
A first-of-its-kind combination data center and hydrogen fuel hub is on its way to Surry County, North Virginia, it has been announced. Middleburg-based Green Energy Partners LLC is leading the project, which is called the Surry Green Energy Center (SGEC) and comes after GEP secured 641 acres of...
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April 12, 2023 Microsoft Azure
Microsoft has filed plans to construct a new data center in Mecklenburg County, Virginia. This week, the Norfolk District of the US Army Corps of Engineers got a joint license application for Federal and State clearances from the corporation. According to the application – labeled LYH03 Bailey –...
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April 11, 2023 Microsoft Azure
As AI continues its rapid evolution, machine learning researcher Eliezer Yudkowsky is sounding the alarm, arguing that AI should not only be paused, as recommended by the Future of Life Institute, but stopped entirely. Yudkowsky has been a vocal critic of AI for over two decades, and says that...
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April 11, 2023 Northern Virginia
In Stafford County, Stafford Technology LC, a company affiliated with US real estate firm Peterson, has outlined plans to develop a 5.5 million sq ft data center park. In order to accommodate the 25-building data center campus, the company is seeking to rezone 524 acres in the Falmouth Election...
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April 07, 2023 Northern Virginia
This spring and summer, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality is mulling over a proposal enabling data facilities in Loudoun County to draw power more routinely from on-site disaster diesel generators. The proposal aims to alleviate pressure on the transmission system, which transports...
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