In a once-quiet suburb just outside Washington, D.C., a massive transformation is underway. The area known as “Data Center Alley” — especially around Ashburn in northern Virginia — has become ground zero for an AI-driven construction surge: the region hosts over 150 data centers packed into roughly 40 square kilometers, and dozens more are currently under construction.
These new facilities are radically different from traditional data-centers: to support AI workloads, they demand gargantuan amounts of power, advanced cooling (often liquid cooling, requiring large water supplies), and robust structural engineering. Servers running advanced AI models — often using high-power GPUs — generate extreme heat, making these “next-generation” centers far more resource-intensive than their predecessors.
The wave of construction has stirred concern among local residents and officials, who argue that while data centers promise corporate investment and economic growth, the local “spin-off” benefits are limited. Most of the jobs come during construction — once a center is operational, human presence and activity is minimal. This has led some Northern Virginia politicians to shift from promoting data-center growth to actively campaigning for slowdowns or moratoria on new builds.
Beyond community concerns, the broader issue is environmental and infrastructural sustainability. The sudden surge in power demand — comparable, in aggregate, to the electricity consumption of entire major cities — places severe stress on the local power grid. Coupled with the need for vast water usage and advanced cooling, many question whether such rapid expansion can be managed sustainably over the long term. For many, the “AI-data-center boom” now raises as many doubts as it promises breakthroughs.
