The Cloud Has to Land Somewhere

Whose water, whose power, whose backyard? Inside the real cost of the $650 billion AI buildout—and the fight against it.

Official rendering of the 2 million sq. ft. data center at Saline Township, MI.

by Lawrence Winnerman

The word we were given was cloud.

It is one of the most effective pieces of marketing in the history of technology, because it tells you the thing is weightless, floating, somewhere up there and nowhere in particular—a place your photos live, made of noth…