Reuters Breakingviews spins a fictional tale for 2026. It predicts the AI infrastructure boom could sputter, leaving a glut of empty data centers ripe for reinvention by opportunistic entrepreneurs.
Google’s parent company Alphabet is acquiring data center and energy firm Intersect in a massive cash-and-debt deal. This comes as global spending on data centers soars to $61 billion, driven entirely by the insane power demands of AI. The infrastructure arms race is just heating up.
Google is spending billions to secure the physical infrastructure for AI. Its parent company, Alphabet, plans to acquire Intersect for $4.75 billion to add critical power and data center capacity, a deal expected to close in the first half of 2026.
Amazon is making a huge land grab for ground infrastructure to support its Leo satellite constellation. The plan for 300+ stations puts it in direct competition with SpaceX’s Starlink, targeting enterprise-grade connectivity.
Meta is experimenting with charging for link sharing on Facebook. Users in professional mode or running Pages are limited to two links unless they subscribe to Meta Verified, which starts at $14.99 per month. This test signals a push to monetize content distribution itself.
According to The Economist, Saudi Arabia is leveraging its vast desert and cheap solar energy to build the world’s most affordable data centers for AI. The Al Shuaiba solar farm south of Jeddah produces power at a fraction of the cost seen in places like the UK.
A new report funded by Amazon argues its massive data centers are net-positive for local utilities, even lowering costs for other customers. But independent analysis warns that unconstrained growth could still lead to major rate hikes for everyone.
A startup founded by Robinhood’s Baiju Bhatt is making a huge bet on orbital data centers for AI. The company, Aetherflux, says its first “Galactic Brain” satellite will be commercially operational by Q1 2027. It’s a radical plan to bypass Earth’s energy and logistics bottlenecks.
Meta has launched an Instagram app exclusively for Amazon Fire TV devices. The app is focused solely on Reels and is currently in a testing phase in the United States.
Global data center electricity demand is projected to more than double in five years, consuming as much as Japan by 2030. AI alone could account for nearly half of that power this year, forcing a major rethink of how we store data.
