Georgia Data Center Intel

Recent Georgia data center news

• Apr 2, 2026

  Why can’t we have nice routers anymore?

  The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) banned essentially all new model consumer Wi‑Fi routers built outside the US.

  • FCC action: The FCC, led by Chairman Brendan Carr, issued a ban on essentially all new-model consumer Wi‑Fi routers manufactured outside the United States, citing that “the [United States must never be dependent on any outside power] for core components…”; the order references involvement of foreign-made routers in the Volt Typhoon, Flax Typhoon, and Salt Typhoon campaigns.
  • Context and technical details: Security experts and the University of Georgia’s Internet Governance Project argue the issue is unpatched, end-of-life devices and insecure deployment rather than country of manufacture; the article notes no consumer routers have been manufactured in the US for more than 24 years, Starlink is an exception, and cites CVE-2023-20198 (CVSS 10) as an example of a software Web UI flaw in Cisco IOS XE.
• Mar 31, 2026

  North American Data Center Growth Shifts Toward Execution, not Expansion

  DC Byte has released an analysis concluding the North American data center market is shifting from topline growth to execution- and delivery-focused outcomes.

  • Main finding: The report (DC Byte) and research lead Alexandra Desseyn state that market structure and execution risk—not scale alone—are now primary determinants of project advancement across Virginia, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Canada; emphasis is on pipeline conversion, entitlement timelines, and submarket dynamics.
  • Context and details: Regulatory changes in Loudoun County are pushing development outward; winners secure power early, build strong utility partnerships, manage supply chain and labor constraints, and align with grid capacity, energy pricing stability, and connectivity; Toronto, Montreal, and Alberta are noted Canadian hubs with a large share of early-stage capacity.
• Mar 30, 2026

  It’s Time to End Data Centers’ Massive Tax Break

  The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) is urging Virginia legislators and Governor Spanberger to eliminate or phase out the $1.9 billion annual sales tax exemption for data center equipment and is mobilizing constituents to contact their representatives before the legislature reconvenes.

  • Main announcement/action: PEC asks Virginians to urge the General Assembly and Governor Spanberger to end or phase out the $1.9 billion annual sales tax break for data centers; the Senate’s budget would phase out the exemption while the House keeps it. Key dates and actions: reconvene April 23 (legislature), advocacy kick-off Zoom call March 30 at 6:30 p.m. (register link provided), and a “Send Your Email” action page to contact delegates, senators and the governor today.
  • Background and details: PEC cites Dominion Energy’s 70 GWs of load requests and ongoing monthly >1 GW requests, estimates of over $100 billion in new generation/transmission/substation infrastructure (including $30 billion for transmission and a 114-mile, 765 kilovolt proposed line), and an independent PEC analysis estimating $53–$99 million/year in health damages from on-site fossil generation at a Loudoun County facility. Also summarizes bill statuses (HB153/SB94; SB553/HB496; HB507; SB619/HB155; SB339/HB658).
• Mar 28, 2026

  Environmental groups sue Georgia Power

  A group of environmental organizations filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Georgia Public Service Commission, appealing the December approval of a massive expansion of power infrastructure for Georgia Power.

  • Lawsuit details: The 42-page lawsuit was filed in Fulton County Superior Court by the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of groups including Georgia Interfaith Power and Light and the Sierra Club; it challenges the PSC approval of nearly 10 gigawatts of new generation and alleges the commission approved 757 megawatts of resources that Georgia Power’s own data showed were not needed, and argues the decision will leave “captive customers” on the hook for an estimated $50 to $60 billion in costs through 2075.
  • Background and claims: Georgia Power and a PSC decision record say the buildout is to meet a projected surge in demand driven largely by data centers; Georgia Power told commissioners the decision delivers more than $100 per year in savings for a typical residential customer and about $8.50 in monthly “downward pressure” on bills; the article notes there have been six rate increases since 2023 and the PSC declined to comment on the pending litigation.
• Mar 27, 2026

  Trump Admin’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge: What It Means for Hyperscalers

  Seven major operators—Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, and xAI—signed the White House-brokered Ratepayer Protection Pledge on March 4, committing to build, procure, or directly fund new electricity generation capacity and to cover transmission and interconnection upgrade costs rather than passing them on to residential or commercial ratepayers.

  • Main announcement: The seven named hyperscalers signed the Ratepayer Protection Pledge (White House-brokered, March 4) to fund new generation and pay for transmission/interconnection upgrades tied to their U.S. data center demand; the pledge explicitly shifts upgrade costs away from residential/commercial ratepayers and toward data center builders.
  • Context and implementation details: States and regional operators are already acting (e.g., Texas Senate Bill 6, PJM process updates) to assign large-load cost responsibility; companies are negotiating tailored agreements (upfront funding, cost-sharing, long-term commitments), examples include Microsoft’s Community-First framework and Microsoft’s involvement in restarting a Three Mile Island unit, while EPRI projects accelerated electricity demand growth through 2030.
• Mar 26, 2026

  Environmental, religious groups take PSC to court to stop Georgia Power data center expansion

  Several environmental and religious groups have petitioned a court to review the Georgia Public Service Commission’s December approval allowing Georgia Power to recover energy-related costs tied largely to data center demand.

  • Main announcement: The petition challenges the PSC approval that allowed Georgia Power to provide 10 new gigawatts of power and to charge customers for an estimated $50–60 billion of electricity-generating resources; the petition also says the Commission certified 757 megawatts without evidentiary support and argues the Commission exceeded its statutory authority.
  • Background and details: At the time of the PSC vote all seats were held by Republicans and two Democrats were later elected and urged delay; Georgia Power says the decision delivers more than $100 per year in savings for a typical residential customer, estimates at least 80% of future demand will come from data centers, and the company expects the expansion to unfold over the next five years.
• Mar 26, 2026

  World Cup 2026 to Test Mobile Networks Across North America

  Broadband Breakfast reports on Ookla data indicating expected differences in mobile network performance across the United States, Canada, and Mexico during the 2026 World Cup.

  • Main announcement: Ookla data and reporting show that mobile performance will vary across 16 stadiums in three countries (United States, Canada, Mexico) for the 2026 World Cup, with U.S. stadiums generally delivering faster median mobile download speeds than those in Canada and Mexican venues lagging behind; Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium is highlighted for strong upload and download performance.
  • Background and implementation details: The article describes carrier performance differences in Mexico (with Telcel delivering faster median download speeds than AT&T and Altán Redes in key host cities), notes the importance of roaming agreements for travelers (some users may access 5G while others remain on LTE), and states network operators are expected to deploy temporary cell sites and enhanced stadium systems to manage the surge; it references prior roaming performance variance observed during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
• Mar 26, 2026

  KU School of Engineering to host 76th annual Environmental Engineering Conference

  The University of Kansas School of Engineering will host the 76th Annual Environmental Engineering Conference on April 15, 2026.

  • Main announcement: The Department of Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering will host the 76th Annual Environmental Engineering Conference with the theme “Environmental Planning and Engineering in the Era of AI”, chaired by Kazi Parvez Fattah; the event is a full-day conference (7:30 a.m.–5 p.m.) at the Kansas Union, with check-in at 7:30 a.m. and opening remarks at 8:30 a.m..
  • Details & logistics:
    • Date: April 15, 2026
    • Time: Check-in 7:30 a.m.; conference runs 7:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m.; opening remarks 8:30 a.m.
    • Location: Kansas Union, University of Kansas
    • Agenda / subjects: drinking water, sustainable wastewater treatment, water contamination, air quality, data centers in the industry, AI and data analytics in environmental management
    • Speakers / participants: representatives from Ramboll, Evergy, CDM Smith, Jacobs, HDR, T8 Environmental LLC, multiple universities and government entities (KDHE, Office of Laura Kelly, HRSD, Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District, International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials)
    • Registration: Early bird registration ends April 2
    • Contact: event contact envconf@ku.edu; media contact Emma Herrman (emma.herrman@ku.edu)
• Mar 23, 2026

  How Stadium Data Centers Power Fans, Operations, and Broadcast

  HPE deployed a multi-site, redundant core for the Milano Cortina Olympics and HPE and Cisco executives outlined stadium data center and networking architectures prepared for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

  • Main announcement/action: HPE deployed a multi-site, redundant core across two locations with fiber and WAN connectivity to roughly 40 venues for the Milano Cortina Olympics; the end-to-end architecture combined HPE and Juniper technologies with Mist AI cloud management, Juniper MX backbone routers, and Juniper SRX firewalls to provide redundant, AIOps-enabled venue networks.
  • Background and further details: Stadiums typically run two physically isolated data centers (an IT data center for ticketing/guest services and a media data center for high-bandwidth broadcast); live production can reach 100 Gbps for 8K/16K workflows, and AI-enabled edge systems (AIOps, Media eXchange Layer) are being adopted ahead of the 2026 World Cup across 16 stadiums in Canada, the United States, and Mexico; HPE/Cisco technologies were also noted at venues including Levi’s Stadium, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and others.
• Mar 13, 2026

  The Gigawatt Bottleneck: Power Constraints Define AI Data Center Growth

  Bloom Energy has released the 2026 Data Center Power Report finding electricity availability has become a defining boundary on data center expansion.

  • Main announcement: The Bloom Energy 2026 Data Center Power Report concludes electricity availability is now a primary constraint for data center growth; it projects U.S. IT load could rise from ~80 GW (2025) to ~150 GW (2028), and highlights major grid forecast revisions such as ERCOT increasing its 2030 data center demand projection from 29 GW to 77 GW and a possible statewide peak of 218 GW by 2031. The report also states roughly one-third of U.S. data centers may rely entirely on onsite power by 2030 and that ~20% of campuses could exceed 1 GW by 2030, rising to nearly 1 in 3 by 2035.
  • Background and details: The analysis is based on surveys of hyperscalers, colocation providers, utilities, and equipment suppliers through 2025 and documents operational shifts: Texas may exceed 40 GW by 2028 (nearly 30% national share); Georgia market share projected +75% while several legacy markets could lose >50% relative share; utilities and developers show a 1–2 year expectation gap on “time to power”; >70% of developers are evaluating onsite power providers; by 2028, 60% expect higher-voltage busways and 45% expect DC architectures.