Good morning from Hong Kong.
Like a lot of people, I now use ChatGPT just about every day. Prompt, response; prompt, response. It’s simple, fast, cheap, and (mostly) reliable—almost like magic. But that magic depends on a sprawling network of very real infrastructure—GPUs, servers, data centers, cooling systems, undersea cables—and consumes a staggering amount of energy.
But I’m newly conscious of that infrastructure since touring a mammoth data center in Singapore a few weeks ago. If you’ve never been to one (I hadn’t) the experience is jarring. The facility I visited was 290,000 square feet—about the size of two Costcos. You can hear the hum of the cooling systems from hundreds of yards away.
