A data center is a building full of computers that runs the internet for everyone else — but the hyperscale campuses now spreading across the country are closer to heavy industry than to an office park. Here’s what they are and how one comes together.
What’s inside
Strip away the scale and a data center is straightforward: rows of racks holding thousands of servers, the networking gear that connects them to the internet, and the systems that keep them powered and cool. The servers store data and run software — a search, a video stream, a bank transaction, an AI model — for users who may be anywhere in the world. Because the computing never stops, neither can the power or the cooling.
Why the recent ones are so large
A “hyperscale” data center is the biggest class, built by cloud and AI companies such as Amazon Web Services, Google, Meta, and Microsoft, or by developers who lease space to them. A single campus can spread across hundreds of acres and multiple buildings. The current wave is driven by artificial intelligence, whose training and inference workloads pack enormous computing power into a small footprint — which is exactly why these facilities draw so much electricity and, often, so much water.
Power and cooling
Two systems dominate the design. First, power: a large campus may request hundreds of megawatts, enough to require a new or expanded electrical substation and a formal interconnection to the regional grid. Second, cooling: all that computing generates heat that has to go somewhere. Some designs use water — often through evaporative cooling — while others use more electricity to avoid drawing on local water. Neither is free; it’s a trade-off between the grid and the water table, and it’s worth knowing which one a given project chose.
How a project comes together
A data center doesn’t appear overnight. Typically a developer options a large parcel, often near existing transmission lines. The project then moves through local government: a rezoning or special-use permit to allow the use, a utility interconnection to secure power, sometimes a water-withdrawal permit, and frequently a tax-incentive or PILOT agreement negotiated as economic development. Each of these steps is a public proceeding that generates public records.
Why the details matter locally
A finished hyperscale campus is largely automated and supports a modest number of permanent jobs relative to its size and its tax breaks. Its lasting footprint is the power it draws, the water it uses, and the decades-long deals that brought it in. Because every one of those is decided by a planning commission, council, or county board, the most important information about a data center is usually sitting in a public file — if someone asks for it. See where the power and water go, then learn how to request the records.