Tuesday, November 05, 2024

A rare bee species reportedly put an end to Meta's plans for a nuclear-powered AI data center


Sarah Jackson
Mon, November 4, 2024

A rare bee species reportedly threw a wrench in Meta's plans for an AI data center.


Meta planned to build a facility to run on nuclear power, but the bees complicated matters, FT said.


Other tech giants are spending billions on data centers to further their AI ambitions.

In the race to build out AI infrastructure, Meta met an unlikely roadblock in one case: bees.

A rare species of the insect threw a wrench in the company's plans for an AI data center, the Financial Times reported Monday.

Meta had been in talks with a nuclear power plant operator for a US data center to support the company's AI work, per the FT. However, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in an all-hands gathering that the discovery of the bee species at a location next to the planned plant was partly responsible for upending the plans, the FT reported, citing two people familiar with the meeting.

Regulatory challenges were also a factor, according to the FT. The newspaper didn't name the power plant operator or say where the site was set to be.

Meta said in its latest earnings report that it expects "a significant acceleration in infrastructure expense growth next year" and "significant capital expenditures growth in 2025," owing in no small part to its work on AI.

Meta isn't the only tech giant spending big on infrastructure for its AI ambitions. Rivals, including Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, also invest billions in data centers to power their AI. Last month, Google announced a partnership to buy nuclear energy from small modular reactors to be built by Kairos Power, making it the first tech giant to broker a deal for new nuclear power plants.

Amazon plans to spend about $150 billion on data centers by 2040, Bloomberg reported in March. The company could roll out as many as 240 new data centers by 2040, Marc Wulfraat, the president of the consulting firm MWPVL, previously told BI, citing the massive square footage at the company's disposal by way of its leasing space in buildings shared with other firms.

In September, Microsoft signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with energy company Constellation in a deal that would bring back online part of Three Mile Island, the site of the US's worst nuclear energy accident.

The boom in data centers to power AI also comes with high costs environmentally, not just financially. In the US, data centers are expected to reach 35 gigawatts of power consumption annually by 2040, up from 17 gigawatts in 2022, according to a McKinsey analysis.

Meta did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.


The humble bumblebee just messed things up for Meta

Trevor Mogg
Tue, November 5, 2024 
DIGITAL TRENDS



The humble bumblebee has played a part in obstructing an ambitious construction project by Meta, according to a Financial Times (FT) report.

The Mark Zuckerberg-led tech giant has apparently had to abandon a plan to build a nuclear-powered AI data center partly because a rare bee species has been found on the land where the facility would’ve been built.

Meta, like other tech behemoths such as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, is looking to harness nuclear power to run its new energy-hungry data centers that are being built to propel their AI plans.


The FT said that Meta was hoping to partner with an existing operator of a nuclear energy facility for a new plant that would help to power its proposed data center, but that “multiple complications including environmental and regulatory challenges” have forced the tech company to think again.

Intent on seeing the project through, Meta is believed to still be considering various deals for carbon-free energy that would involve construction work in a different location, presumably one without any rare bees buzzing around nearby.

Processing data for generative-AI products requires enormous amounts of energy, prompting major tech firms to ink deals with nuclear power companies to supply their needs cleanly and efficiently.

Google announced just last month that it had inked a deal with nuclear energy startup Kairos Power to purchase 500 megawatts of “new 24/7 carbon-free power” from seven of the company’s small modular reactors (SMRs), with initial delivery from the first SMR expected in 2030 followed by a full rollout by 2035.

“The grid needs new electricity sources to support AI technologies that are powering major scientific advances, improving services for businesses and customers, and driving national competitiveness and economic growth,” Michael Terrell, Google’s senior director of Energy and Climate, wrote in a blog post announcing the deal. “This agreement helps accelerate a new technology to meet energy needs cleanly and reliably, and unlock the full potential of AI for everyone.”

Additionally, Microsoft announced in September that it’s working to restart a unit at New York’s Three Mile Island as part of a plan to power its own AI data centers.

Rare bees kill Meta’s nuclear-powered AI data center plans

Andrew Paul
Mon, November 4, 2024

Rusty-patched Bumblebee gathering nectar from a yellow flower


Environmental regulators reportedly quashed Mark Zuckerberg’s nuclear plant partnership meant to help power Meta’s ongoing artificial intelligence projects. Details remain scarce, but the main reason for pausing plans allegedly comes down to one issue—rare bees.

The tech company’s setback, first reported on November 4th by Financial Times, came after surveyors discovered the currently unspecified pollinators while reviewing land meant for a new AI data center. The selected area offered easy access to tap into the nearby, unspecified nuclear plant. Zuckerberg, however, confirmed the project’s cancellation during a Meta all-hands meeting last week, according to FT. The company’s CEO added that, prior to the termination, Meta was on track to become the first company using nuclear power for AI through the largest plant currently available for data center use. (Meta did not respond to requests for comment at the time of writing.)

[Related: Massive AI energy demand is bringing Three Mile Island back from the dead.]

Meta and many other tech companies continue to face energy crunches thanks to their recent AI investments. Earlier this year, Microsoft confirmed its greenhouse gas emissions rose an estimated 29 percent since 2020 due to new data centers specifically “designed and optimized to support AI workloads.” Google has also calculated its own pollution generation has increased as much as 48 percent since 2019, largely because of data center energy needs.

“As we further integrate AI into our products, reducing emissions may be challenging,” Google researchers wrote in a July sustainability report.

Critics, meanwhile, continue to voice concerns about these often controversial AI projects’ staggering energy requirements. A single AI-integrated search query, for example, is estimated to require up to 10 times the energy of a standard Google search—equivalent to keeping one light bulb on for 20 minutes. In response, tech companies have announced multiple plans in recent months that hinge on nuclear power. Microsoft currently aims to bring the infamous Three Mile Island plant back online for its AI needs, while Amazon is funneling hundreds of millions of dollars into a partnership with Pennsylvania’s nuclear plant in Susquehanna. Google is currently investing in the development of modular “mini” nuclear reactors for its own energy requirements.

The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission lists 94 operational commercial reactors at 55 nuclear power plants in 28 states that collectively provide about one-fifth of the nation’s energy. Dozens of bee species found across the US are currently considered at-risk or endangered, so it is difficult to determine which species caused Meta’s project setback, and where it happened.

While the specific nuclear plant and bee remains a mystery, Purdue University assistant professor of entomology Brock Harpur believes that the current status of US bee species points to a few possibilities.

“If it’s in California, there are now several protected bumble bees,” Harpur told Popular Science.

California’s only operational nuclear facility is currently Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo County. Given that the process for approving and constructing any new nuclear plant takes years to accomplish, it’s possible Meta would have wanted to court Diablo Canyon’s owners at PG&E if the company hoped to keep up with its AI competition. Diablo Canyon representatives did not respond to Popular Science at the time of writing. With the majority of US nuclear plants located across the Midwest and East Coast, Harpur speculated that it’s also possible the rare pollinator in question is the Rusty Patched Bumble bee, the first bee added to the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s endangered species list in 2017.

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