California Data Center Intel

Recent California data center news

• Mar 27, 2026

  California Dems float bill to revive industry environmental reviews

  State Sen. Catherine Blakespear introduced amendments to SB 954 to narrow the CEQA exemption for advanced manufacturing on March 26, 2026.

  • Main action: Blakespear filed amendments to SB 954 on 03/26/2026 to narrow the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) exemption for “advanced manufacturing facilities,” which the article specifies range from data centers to lithium mining. The change seeks to roll back part of the exemption granted last year in SB 131.
  • Background/details: The original exemption was added in last-minute budget negotiations with Gov. Gavin Newsom as part of SB 131; it drew immediate opposition from environmental and labor groups. The amendments are an announced legislative action (introduction of bill amendments), not a retrospective analysis of completed projects.
• Mar 26, 2026

  Veritone Leans Into Oracle Cloud to Scale AI Data Pipelines

  Veritone has signed a multi-year deal to make Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) a preferred platform and migrate key AI workloads (including aiWARE, Veritone Data Refinery, and Veritone Data Marketplace) to scale globally and support sovereign deployments.

  • Main action: Veritone will migrate and expand critical workloads to OCI under a multi-year agreement, making OCI a preferred platform for core products (aiWARE, Veritone Data Refinery, Veritone Data Marketplace) to gain performance, security, and scalability as it expands globally and pursues sovereign AI deployments.
  • Background/details: This shift follows years of re-architecting and containerization of Veritone’s stack (enabling cloud portability); the deal emphasizes managing large volumes of unstructured media data (much still on tape and legacy formats), targets media and public sector customers (including federal-compliant secure environments), and maintains a multi-cloud/co-sell posture with hyperscalers.
• Mar 26, 2026

  Renewable Energy vs. Fossil Fuels: Who Is Actually Winning in 2026?

  Happy Eco News (author Artemis) publishes an analytical piece stating that the energy transition is accelerating in electricity generation but has not yet displaced fossil fuels across total energy demand.

  • Main announcement: The article reports that renewables are rapidly expanding in electricity — citing solar and wind at 17% of U.S. electricity generation in 2024 (756,621 GWh), global clean energy investment of $2.2 trillion in 2025 out of $3.3 trillion total energy spending, and that renewables represented over 90% of new global electricity capacity added in 2025.
  • Background and additional facts: The piece notes that fossil fuels still supplied 58% of U.S. electricity in 2024 and that 82% of total U.S. energy consumption came from fossil fuels in 2023 (University of Michigan factsheet); it also records that global emissions hit a fourth consecutive annual record in 2024 and highlights mounting electricity-footprint scrutiny on sectors such as data centers, streaming platforms, and crypto casinos.
• Mar 26, 2026

  Arm shifts course, moves into silicon business

  Arm has announced it will expand into production silicon and launched the Arm AGI CPU with Meta as lead partner and first customer.

  • Main announcement: Arm is entering production silicon with the new Arm AGI CPU, positioned as a CPU purpose-built for agentic AI data centers, co-developed with Meta; the chip is designed by Ampere and will be manufactured by TSMC on a 3-nanometer process node. Key product specs announced include up to 136 Arm Neoverse V3 cores per CPU, 6GB/s memory bandwidth per core at sub-100ns latency, 300W TDP, claims of >2x performance per rack versus x86, support for 1U air-cooled deployments up to 8,160 cores per rack and liquid-cooled systems delivering 45,000+ cores per rack. Early systems are available now, with broader availability expected in the second half of the year.
  • Background and partners: The chip was designed and manufactured by Ampere (acquired by SoftBank for $6.5 billion last year). Arm confirmed additional commercial momentum with partners/customers including Cerebras, Cloudflare, F5, OpenAI, Positron, Rebellions, SAP, and SK Telecom, and is working with OEM/ODM partners ASRock Rack, Lenovo, Quanta Computer, and Supermicro for system deliveries. Independent analyst commentary (Jim McGregor, Tirias Research) raised questions about benchmark comparators and emphasized the AGI CPU is targeted at AI/accelerator orchestration rather than general-purpose enterprise CPU use.
• Mar 25, 2026

  Equinix Targets Talent Gap as AI Infrastructure Demand Surges

  Equinix has announced a global expansion of workforce development initiatives to build technical talent pipelines for data centers, including a global rollout of Pathways to Tech and a Data Center Technician Training Coalition with Generation.

  • Main announcement:Equinix is scaling its Pathways to Tech program (targeting students aged 14–18) from a two-year pilot that reached nearly 2,000 students across the Americas and Asia-Pacific to a global rollout, and launching a Data Center Technician Training Coalition (in partnership with Generation) with a pilot in Brazil and plans to expand globally through 2026. Programs include IBX facility tours, internships, apprenticeships, standardized apprenticeships/internships across US, Germany, France, Singapore, the UK, and Brazil, and hands-on “Learning Labs” in markets such as Dallas, Paris, and Singapore.

  • Background and implementation details: The initiatives are presented as a coordinated, multi-employer response to industry talent shortages driven by AI-related demand; Equinix states the initiatives will roll out globally beginning in 2026, with activations planned across the Americas, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific. The coalition will co-develop curricula, co-fund training, and hire graduates; the article describes this as an announced program (not merely commentary).

• Mar 25, 2026

  Q&A: Can nuclear fusion power AI's growing electricity needs?

  Egwu Favour Emaojo highlights renewed interest in nuclear fusion as a potential power source for AI-driven data centres.

  • Main announcement/action: The article reports growing progress and investment in fusion: financing rose from US$1.7 billion in 2020 to US$15 billion by September 2025, Helion Energy began construction of a prototype commercial plant in July 2025 and in February 2026 announced its reactor reached 150 million °C, keeping it on track to supply Microsoft’s data centers by 2028. The piece also cites data-centre electricity use (≈176 TWh in the U.S. in 2023; global demand projected to ~945 TWh by 2030).
  • Background and supporting details: The author references past technical milestones (Dec 2022 net energy gain and an April 2025 near‑quadrupling of output), IAEA praise calling fusion a “dream of limitless, clean energy”, China’s EAST reactor progress, and cautions that fusion is not yet commercially viable and most experts say it is “Not in the near term” for large‑scale deployment.
• Mar 24, 2026

  Amarillo data center project gets approval from environmental agency, despite community pushback

  The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) approved Fermi America’s air permitting for Project Matador, advancing the nearly 6,000-acre data center campus into its final stages.

  • Main announcement: TCEQ gave final approval for Fermi America’s air permit for Project Matador, a nearly 6,000-acre campus described by Fermi as an 11 GW private grid campus and the recipient of what the company calls the second-largest Clean Air Permit in the country; the permit seeks authorization for 23.5 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year.
  • Background and details: The decision came despite more than 300 public comments and sustained community opposition in Amarillo; Fermi’s statement was issued by Cathy Landtroop (chief communications officer), and opposition comments were voiced by residents like Kendra Seawright and by Public Citizen (Kathryn Guerra), who criticized TCEQ’s evaluation process.
• Mar 24, 2026

  Switch Completes Agreement to Sponsor Research with Stanford’s Center for Integrated Facility Engineering (CIFE) to Innovate and Accelerate Digital Infrastructure Development

  Switch® has announced a sponsored research agreement with Stanford University’s Center for Integrated Facility Engineering (CIFE) on March 25, 2026.

  • Main announcement: Switch® will sponsor research at Stanford CIFE to advance large-scale digital infrastructure, industrialized construction, and innovative energy systems for AI data centers; the agreement will enable academic research and hands-on exposure to Switch’s innovation initiatives (announced 25 March 2026).
  • Background and details: The research will focus on improved construction turnover, prefabrication/modularization (DFM) for Switch’s AI Factories™ capital programs, and testing CIFE’s sustainability-focused facility life-cycle performance framework to define novel sustainability metrics and explore token-to-grid / grid interoperability; no monetary value or implementation timeline was specified in the announcement.
• Mar 24, 2026

  Climate Change Solutions - March 24, 2026

  EESI published its “Climate Change Solutions” newsletter summarizing recent analysis, events, and legislative activity related to energy grid upgrades, data center impacts, and climate information integrity.

  • Main announcement: EESI highlights solutions including reconductoring to expand U.S. grid capacity, coverage of data center noise and water use issues, and a podcast on climate data integrity; the newsletter also notes EESI hosted a Rapid Readout on the repeal of the EPA’s 2009 Endangerment Finding (readout available via EESI).
  • Additional details and timeline: Congressional actions noted include passage/introduction of bills: H.R.2709 (Save Our Sequoias Act) passed House, H.R.528 (Post-Disaster Reforestation and Restoration Act of 2025) passed House, reintroduction of S.4096 / H.R.7921 (Rural Decentralized Water Systems Reauthorization Act), and introduction of H.R.7977 (Energy Bills Relief Act). Upcoming EESI events: Tracking Down Data on April 23, Water Infrastructure briefing on May 7, and EXPO 2026 on June 24.
• Mar 24, 2026

  The Northwest Hasn’t Learned the Lessons of WPPSS (“Whoops”)

  Laura Feinstein (Sightline Institute) argues that leaders should avoid building new gas-fired power plants in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and instead prioritize data center flexibility, demand response, energy efficiency, and transmission expansion to address near-term resource adequacy concerns.

  • Main action and evidence: The piece urges policymakers and regulators to require utilities and large electricity users to exhaust large-load flexibility and demand-side measures before approving fossil fuel infrastructure; cites a September 2025 E3 Phase 1 analysis that reported an 8.7 GW shortfall by 2030 (commonly rounded to 9 GW), which shrinks to roughly 5.6 GW when already planned resources (e.g., Carriger solar, PacifiCorp conversions) are counted. The article highlights alternatives with concrete figures: a Duke University estimate that 3.8 GW could be gained if data centers reduced power about one week per year, and a Sylvan Energy Analytics review showing data-center curtailment can eliminate the gap in multiple scenarios.
  • Background and concrete details: The article documents utilities’ recent actions and legislative context: PSE has contracted for six new gas turbines (filing redacted), Grant PUD approved a (temporary) 12 MW natural gas plant, PSE’s voluntary demand response currently reduces <2% of peak demand and Washington law requires ramping to 10% savings starting 2027; it notes the U.S. Department of Energy used the E3 report to justify keeping a coal plant online past Dec 31, 2025. The author characterizes the piece as an opinion/analysis urging precaution and policy alternatives rather than announcing a new transaction or partnership.