@nytimes: Loudoun County, Virginia, has been called the “data center capital of the world.” Cecilia Kang, who covers technology and regulatory policy for The New York Times, traveled to the to see how the A.I. boom is affecting the area. Video by Cecilia Kang, Laura Bult, Gilad Thaler, Jon Miller, Thomas Vollkommer, June Kim and Jeff Ricker/The New York Times #datacenter #datacenters #virginia #ai #artificialintelligence

The New York Times
The New York Times
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Region: US
Wednesday 19 August 2026 15:15:40 GMT
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zack_burns
Zack_burns :
Can they not build them underground?
2026-08-19 23:31:54
0
taphotoco
TA Photo Co. :
and then data storage will get smaller and they won't need that much space and it'll go to waste
2026-08-19 23:36:09
0
stuartbnok
Stuart :
I don't see a lot of employment with data centers outside of construction
2026-08-19 16:12:52
871
_quinnifer_
Quinnifer :
and guess what, they're the RICHEST COUNTY IN THE US
2026-08-19 19:45:41
114
bronzvillecondo
bronzvillecondo :
This is AMERICA, it’s all a trade-off!!!
2026-08-19 23:29:26
0
naurrrlaur
Lo ☀️🌻 :
Loudoun hasn’t been 30 mins from DC in like 10 years
2026-08-19 21:38:46
42
lauraohio6
Laura C :
You get a new library and a new cancer diagnosis at the same time. No thanks.
2026-08-19 20:50:32
13
user4668415823468
user4668415823468 :
I live in Ashburn and have seen the data center growth. we don't have a problem with it in the industrial side of town but now they are creeping right next to neighborhoods, clear cutting forests and there seems to be no stopping them. this article was pretty accurate but the other huge issue is the ugly massive power lines they are putting everywhere.
2026-08-19 17:07:35
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antisocialintrovert0
antisocialintrovert💙 :
You definitely gave more of a one-sided perspective of this. everyone you talked to at the Ashburn community center gave a somewhat positive opinion of data centers given the money we get from them. You should have interviewed the people in the townhouses in Sterling who deal with a constant high noise level of the data center down the street. One of the neighborhoods you drove through in Ashburn I recognize as the neighborhood that has been offered to be bought out so they can level them and build more data centers. or the people in Brambleton who are fighting to keep a high voltage power line from being put in their back yards and on school property because they need more power for data center. You should have talked to those people to see how it is truly affecting the those who live here.
2026-08-19 22:17:03
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f49723
fvc23 :
“Their school got a new playground” talking as if that is something extraordinary in the supposedly wealthiest country in the world smh
2026-08-19 16:26:11
130
bueno3232
user1915086830249 :
Come back in 10 years most of them will be obsolete 😄 abandoned ugly boxes.
2026-08-19 17:08:04
103
mzsumthing
Mzsumthing :
There are no jobs! What has happen in northern Virginia - electric bills that have doubled! I’m sorry, libraries, parks, communities centers were here before data centers!
2026-08-19 18:03:53
180
thatdizzzygirl
ThatDizzzyGirl :
Loudoun County has held the title of the richest county in the US by median household income for 19 consecutive years, before the data centers. Most residents hold advanced degrees and work in specialized tech and engineering fields. And for heaven’s sakes, it’s spelled LOUDOUN. Don’t let this garbage propaganda sell you a data center. The PTA paid for that playground. It used to be beautiful farm land out here and now this crap.
2026-08-19 22:36:06
11
jawnquijote
Jawnqui :
This makes a wonderful case for what we could expect if rich ppl and corps generally paid their share of taxes and those funds were used appropriately
2026-08-19 15:34:01
52
vevenissieix
PMS253 :
Report on the water pollution from data centers?!?
2026-08-19 18:41:12
19
melissa.cc.4365
melissa.cc.4365 :
Worked for a data center in Ashburn for two years. It’s a weird experience. There are only a handful of employees and it’s just so strange to see HUGE buildings but no people. Beautiful homes, but weird concrete buildings everywhere. Would never live there. Not to mention it’s SO expensive to live there.
2026-08-19 19:18:35
13
manilishchminke
Manilishi Schminke :
I was just there.
2026-08-19 22:18:04
1
dolly.krishna1704
sar.17 :
Used to be all farmland there. Virginia is being developed to hell
2026-08-19 18:03:18
19
itsnotcrueltobekind
BeAGoodPerson 🇧🇪🇧🇪 :
We moved to Ashburn in 1994. We were surrounded by cow farms. We moved in 2025 because we were surrounded by data farms. And we had to pay higher taxes because we simply lived close to the metro.
2026-08-19 20:02:47
12
moothecow23
moothecow23 :
Gotta put them somewhere, pals.
2026-08-19 15:51:54
10
davidamargolis
davidAmargolis :
Data centers get billions - school gets a playground, quite a trade off
2026-08-19 20:15:14
10
sebbylyfe
sebbylyfe :
If you willingly choose to live in London county with all these data centers, you have lost your mind
2026-08-19 17:32:44
8
rick.maston
Ricky M. :
There are NO tax benefits in Virginia!!! The data center may have provided a playground which may have cost $10,000 for millions of tax breaks.
2026-08-19 17:25:59
7
shellzy_y
shelsy :
WHY DORS THE US HAVE OVER 5 TIMES THE AMOUNT OF DATA CENTERS THAN BOTH CHINA AND INDIA????
2026-08-19 18:11:54
30
nik_f97
Niklas :
Remind me…when did newspapers go from displaying Advertisements to just right away producing them
2026-08-19 16:15:31
25
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