Silicon Valley Demand, AI Spur California Bill for Data Centers

A growing demand for data centers spurred by artificial intelligence is behind California legislation to encourage construction of more facilities.

A state Senate committee on Tuesday approved the measure (S.B. 1298) that would grant an exemption from the California Energy Commission’s licensing process for new power plants used by small data centers. Several other states, including Maryland and Colorado, are considering similar legislation or looking at tax subsidies to spur economic growth.

Data centers, which power critical infrastructure from hospital records to cloud services, are key in a technological age when many tasks are done digitally. ...