Risk, returns & timeframes illustration
1 min read
April 3, 2023
by
Regan Pearson

We ❤️ AI

While some in Big Tech want to take things slow when it comes to our relationship with AI, others have caught feels and may be ready to reboot. Now Down Under may be set to get their head in the cloud with data centre hopefuls following Cupid's arrow straight into the heart of Tāmaki Makaurau.
1 min read
April 3, 2023
by
Regan Pearson

We ❤️ AI

While some in Big Tech want to take things slow when it comes to our relationship with AI, others have caught feels and may be ready to reboot. Now Down Under may be set to get their head in the cloud with data centre hopefuls following Cupid's arrow straight into the heart of Tāmaki Makaurau.
1 min read
April 3, 2023
by
Regan Pearson

We ❤️ AI

While some in Big Tech want to take things slow when it comes to our relationship with AI, others have caught feels and may be ready to reboot. Now Down Under may be set to get their head in the cloud with data centre hopefuls following Cupid's arrow straight into the heart of Tāmaki Makaurau.
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In just a coupla months, our relationship with AI has blasted from ‘friend zone’ to ‘it’s complicated’. 😬 Sure, some of us have enjoyed flirting with AI’s potential to, say, woo matches on Tinder (MTCH). But the ability of artificial intelligence to inspire deep emotions has others falling helplessly in love. Could that be why Elon wants the industry to take things slow? 🐌

One thing that’s not slowing down is the huge boom in new cloud data centres being rolled out across Aotearoa to support our new robot overlords, bringing a whole new meaning to ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’. ☁️

Last week Microsoft (MSFT) got permission to splash $180 million NZD on land to build new data centres here, and Amazon’s (AMZN) AWS is planning to splurge a whopping $7.5 billion NZD on New Zealand-based bit barns. DCI data centres, owned by Brookfield Asset Management (BAM), has also started construction on Tāmaki Makaurau’s largest data centre, a $400 million NZD monster called AKL02. 🤖

Why the boom down under? Despite being thousands of kilometres away from, well, anything, Big Tech is being drawn to New Zealand’s other clouds. ⛈️ Yep, it turns out that the same raging atmospheric rivers that tried to ruin our summer festival vibes are amazing for filling up our data lakes and rivers for renewable energy production. 

Crunching all that AI data is thirsty work. Simply training ChatGPT 3 is estimated to have produced the same emissions as driving to the moon. For an industry estimated to consume almost 2% of the world’s electricity by 2030, New Zealand is like the pot of gold at the end of the ESG rainbow. Because being here enables big operators like Datacom, Microsoft and DCI to happily declare their new data centres as powered on 100% renewable energy. Just don’t turn up to throw rocks at their windows if your sexting chatbot dumps you.💔

Regan Pearson
Finance writer
Linkedin

We’re not financial advisors and Hatch news is for your information only. However dazzling our writing, none of it is a recommendation to invest in any of the companies or funds mentioned. If you want support before making any investment decisions, consider seeking financial advice from a licensed provider. We’ve done our best to ensure all information is current when we pushed ‘publish’ on this article. And of course, with investing, your money isn’t guaranteed to grow and there’s always a risk you might lose money.

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