Efficiency has improved, heavy industries moved offshore, and the grid roughly stayed where it was. As AI expands, Walsh says the industry’s share will need to reach 12% by 2030. Yet power is not Walsh’s biggest worry.
Microsoft’s data centers also use water around 90% more efficiently than 10 to 15 years ago, according to Walsh. Yet efficiency is not keeping pace with demand, and cooling AI chips often requires closed-loop systems that use almost no water, but more electricity. To keep up, Microsoft goes where the power is.
Microsoft is also partnering with companies that can build new sites and connect them to the national grid later. In West Texas, Chevron and Engine No.1 are building a site with its own natural gas power supply, specifically for Microsoft. The real limit, Walsh believes, is workers.
I think that will ultimately be the limiter to the pace at which we’re growing,” she said. Microsoft runs data center academies with local colleges to train residents it can then hire. It’s part of a wider move to support the communities where it builds.
As demand grows, Microsoft aims to build in a way that supports the people living next door. In the Netherlands, a mayor told Walsh he didn’t like the look of a Microsoft data center, which stuck out across the open, flat landscape. So the company planted trees around it.
A simple measure, but one that can significantly reduce local opposition. Microsoft also helps with the infrastructure demands a new data center can bring. The company also pays local taxes, which have helped fund hospitals and schools in places like Quincy, Washington.
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