Google participated in the data center project in Becker, Minnesota, USA in 2019, but the plan was once shelved, and according to the latest news, the project has now been postponed indefinitely.
According to local media reports, Google has indefinitely postponed the construction of the $600 million data center. Experts believe Google may be seeing a trend and influenced by supply and demand, forecasts and economic factors.
Not only Google, Meta also stopped the expansion of the Danish data center last week, announcing that it will suspend future construction, as well as project construction in Alabama and Texas, and redesign the 11 projects at hand in order to focus more on supporting AI work.
Both Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and Meta experienced business slowdown, which delayed the construction of data centers. While Google Cloud Platform lost less money in the third quarter, it remained stagnant compared with rivals such as AWS, Microsoft and Alibaba.
Gartner, a consulting company, shows that Google Cloud Platform will grow by 64% annually between 2020 and 2021, and its revenue in the second and third quarters of this year will also reach US$600 million. Although the performance is good, it cannot be compared with Azure, which estimates its revenue this year About $100 billion.
Compared with Google’s performance, Meta’s prospects are uncertain. In September, the company announced the first round of layoffs in history, freezing personnel recruitment, facing a decline in advertising revenue and a failure in metaverse investment. Experts believe that the overbuilding of Meta is related to the demand for its platform, but this downturn is temporary, because the company revealed that it will develop artificial intelligence and machine learning in the future; These data centers are not needed now.
In contrast, data centers still have a large demand for AWS and Azure. According to insiders, these two companies have been oversubscribed, and there will be no slowdown in construction. However, potential noise pollution, power and water consumption make building data centers increasingly difficult and costly, which is ultimately passed on to customers.
Due to economic factors, Google and Meta have slowed down the data center development plan. Insiders estimate that it may last for 12 to 18 months, and companies may face stricter environmental scrutiny when selecting sites.
In response to the delay in the construction of the data center, a Google spokesperson stated that it will be committed to developing industries and employment in Minnesota. Although this project has not yet progressed, it does not rule out the possibility of participating in the project in the future.