And that computing power has a big environmental footprint. A typical AI data center uses as much electricity as 100,000 households, and the largest under development will consume 20 times more, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). They also suck up billions of gallons of water for systems to keep all that computer hardware cool.

Google announced a $9 billion investment in Dorchester and Berkeley counties on Monday.With this investment, Google plans to expand its Berkeley County campus,

AI data centers use large amounts of water for cooling. And many are being built in the drought-stricken Mountain West, sparking concerns over water supplies.