China is pulling ahead of the rest of the world in sinking data centers that power AI into the ocean as an alternate way to keep them cool

National and state political leaders are rushing to regulate and incentivize the rapidly growing data center industry.

Asset management firm Blackstone will announce on Tuesday a $25 billion investment in data centers and energy infrastructure in Pennsylvania, Chief Operating Officer Jon Gray said at a panel at the Energy and Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh.

Data center operators in China, which use Nvidia’s H20 chips to crunch data for various AI services, have been struggling to find a local alternative that is as good as the U.S. company’s chips.

The proposed data center would include 18 buildings, each about 250,000 square feet, on rural land owned by a timber land property owner on Rock Mountain Lake Road, the Birmingham Business Journal reported. The developer is proposing the $14 billion project as a 4.5 million-square-foot campus, BBJ reported.

CNBC's Diana Olick reports on news regarding real estate and power generation in outer space.

The MEA region is experiencing significant growth in its data center market. As of 2024, the market was valued at approximately USD $8.63 billion and is projected to reach USD $19.89 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 14.93%.

The Japanese telecom giant’s data-center arm is aiming to pour billions into its business to meet rising demand for artificial-intelligence computing and other uses, its chief executive said.