Data Centers

He talks tough about big tech, but he's betting on their servers.

The next time you’re on a Zoom meeting or asking ChatGPT a question, picture this: The information zips instantaneously through a room of hot, humming servers, traveling hundreds, possibly thousands of miles, before it makes its way back to you in just a second or two.

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday night on major changes to the way the county regulates Data Centers. They eliminated them as an by-right usage.

Diode Ventures, a Kansas-based company, recently submitted plans to county Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors for rezone 515 acres approximately 20 miles east of Richmond in order to create a datacenter campus named Roxbury Technology Park.

Ever since data centers started spreading across the Virginia landscape like an invasive pest, one important question has remained unanswered: How much does the industry’s insatiable demand for energy impact other utility customers?

Leading tech firm Google, which has invested over $4 billion in Virginia and owns three data center campuses in the northern region of the state, co-hosted a private meeting in Richmond Tuesday alongside the state’s energy department to talk about how electric grid investments can meet data centers’ rising energy needs.