AI News: The Day's Highlights

June 1, 2026 · 4 min read

Perplexity

The most notable recent news is the assessment that power consumption by data centers in Russia will grow 3.6 times, to 15.3 GW, over the next five years. This is directly related to the increased load on the power system and makes the topic of data center energy efficiency one of the key environmental issues in the industry. Event Date: May 28, 2026. [4][6]

The significantly new angle here is not the growth of AI load itself, but the fact that it is already about large-scale energy limitations: new data centers will have to be located with consideration for available capacity and infrastructure, otherwise growth will be hampered by energy deficits. This is also supported by earlier instructions on linking data center placement to available generation and the development of the power system. [3][8]

Gemini

China Launches World's First Commercial Underwater Data Center Powered by Offshore Wind Energy

On May 30, 2026, the world's first commercial underwater data center was launched in the waters off the coast of Shanghai. The facility, with a capacity of approximately 24 MW, utilizes seawater for cooling and sources over 90% of its energy from offshore wind farms. This significantly reduces its carbon footprint compared to traditional land-based data centers. The underwater platform is designed to accommodate up to two thousand servers and will be used for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing tasks.

Microsoft Implements Closed-Loop Water Cooling System to Reduce Water Consumption

On December 11, 2024, Microsoft announced a new cooling architecture for its data centers, which involves circulating water in a closed loop without evaporation. This technology will be implemented in all new company data centers designed from August 2024 onwards, with deployment planned by the end of 2027. Microsoft estimates that such a system will save over 125 million liters of fresh water per year for each data center.

Sources:

China Launches World's First Underwater Data Center Powered by Offshore Wind Energy (ForPost)
Microsoft's New Data Centers to Use Closed-Loop Evaporation-Free Water Cooling System (Habr)

ChatGPT

In April 2026, Meta Platforms Inc. announced plans to use solar energy collected in space to power its data centers supporting artificial intelligence. The company has entered into an agreement with Overview Energy, a startup focused on collecting solar energy via satellites, to supply up to 1 gigawatt of power. This is equivalent to the output of a nuclear power plant. (bloomberg.com)

This decision aims to reduce environmental impact and enhance the energy supply sustainability of Meta's data centers. Utilizing solar energy from space ensures a stable and environmentally friendly power source for the growing computational demands associated with AI development.

Sources:

Meta Seeks to Power Data Centers With Energy Beamed From Space - Bloomberg

Grok

In early April 2026, Chile's environmental authorities gave the green light for the construction of a large Amazon Web Services data center in a suburb of Santiago, despite protests from local residents. Activists pointed to the risks of destroying green spaces, depleting water resources, and the need to lay a high-voltage power line, but the court rejected their appeals, ordering that energy supply issues be considered separately.

AWS stated that the project is designed with a focus on minimal energy and water consumption, and that total investments in infrastructure in Chile will exceed $4 billion over 15 years. Experts note that Chile is becoming an attractive location for data centers due to its connectivity and deregulation policies, but warn about the need for a balance between investment and environmental protection.

Sources:

Reuters (article dated May 8, 2026, on the decision of Chilean authorities).
Reuters (article dated May 12, 2026, on the impact of data centers on power grids).

Claude

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has released its annual forecast for 2026, predicting a sharp increase in electricity consumption by data center servers, reaching 446–818 billion kilowatt-hours by 2050 (May 2026). This represents a significant shift in perspective: while data centers consumed approximately 7% of the commercial sector's electricity in 2025, this share is projected to grow to 22–33% by 2050.

The forecast specifically notes that cooling data centers alone will require an additional 84 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2050 under a high-demand scenario. This underscores the critical role of cooling technologies, one of the most energy-intensive aspects of infrastructure. The EIA report serves as a signal to data center operators that there is an urgent need to implement energy efficiency strategies and invest in technologies that reduce both electricity consumption and environmental footprint.

Sources:

Unix Commerce — Data Center Electricity Use Projected to Surge by 2050, EIA Reports

Sources:

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