A hyperscale AI data centre boom is coming

Our Take

Credit to CBC's Nora Young and The National for a segment that sounds a lot like our beat, just north of the border. Alberta's courting hyperscale AI data centers with the same pitch Texas, Georgia, and Ohio officials have used for years — jobs, tax base, 'tech sovereignty' — and Olds, Alberta is getting a preview of what happens when that pitch meets a real proposal in a real town. The CBC's own reporting notes most people don't want one of these facilities nearby once they understand what's actually being asked of the local grid and the local aquifer.

That last point is the one we'd underline. The segment flags a lack of data about the impacts, and that's not a Canadian problem, it's the industry's operating model everywhere. Water use gets reported in vague annual averages, power draw gets negotiated behind NDAs, and by the time a community has real numbers, the substation's already been sited and the tax abatement's already been signed. The resistance CBC describes in Alberta is the same resistance forming in county commission meetings across the U.S. — it just arrives after the deal, not before.

If you're wondering whether this is already happening in your backyard, check our facility map for what's built, proposed, or under review near you, and see our take-action page for how to get real numbers on the table before your city council votes on the next one.