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Massachusetts Data Center Intel
Latest data center news, projects, power and policy across Massachusetts — updated daily.
Recent Massachusetts data center news
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The utility perspective on equitable ratemaking
State utility regulators investigate equitable ratemaking to protect low-income customers amidst data center growth.
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With load growth and fear of rising utility bills, are low-income customers protected?
Rising data center demand threatens low-income customers with higher energy bills, requiring protective measures.
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Startup aims to transform the power grid with superconducting transmission lines
VEIR, founded by Tim Heidel, is revolutionizing power grids with superconducting transmission lines in Woburn, Massachusetts. The technology can carry 5-10 times more power than conventional lines, crucial for expanding transmission capacity in the U.S. and Europe. VEIR aims to deploy high-capacity lines by 2026 to support renewable energy growth and decarbonization efforts.
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JLL to acquire data center design, engineering services firm SKAE
JLL has announced the acquisition of SKAE Power Solutions, a data center design and engineering services firm, in response to the rising demand for data storage driven by AI and IoT. Founded in 1998, SKAE offers technical services to various industries in the U.S., enhancing JLL’s ability to support clients’ data center solutions.
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Oracle unveils $10B data center expansion plan
Oracle plans a $10B data center expansion to compete with Google and Amazon. Supply chain issues slow down construction, while demand for data centers grows. Oracle claims to improve project delivery times. Ellison mentions enhancements in building speed. Google and Amazon have ongoing data center projects in various U.S. locations.
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Oracle unveils $10B data center expansion plan
Oracle is planning a $10 billion data center expansion to compete with Google and Amazon. Despite supply chain challenges, Oracle aims to build data centers more efficiently. CEO Ellison emphasized faster project delivery. Google and Amazon have initiated multiple data center projects across the U.S., facing similar construction hurdles.
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Startup accelerates progress toward light-speed computing
Lightmatter, co-founded by MIT alumni including Nicholas Harris, pioneers light-based data processing and transfer in chips, aiming to enhance computing efficiency. Their chips, utilizing photons and electrons, target AI operations and data transfer between chips. With a recent $300 million funding, Lightmatter collaborates with major tech companies to reduce energy consumption in AI and data centers.
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New tools are available to help reduce the energy that AI models devour
The MIT Lincoln Laboratory Supercomputing Center (LLSC) is developing techniques to reduce energy use in data centers, particularly for AI models. They have found that power-capping hardware and early stopping during AI training can significantly decrease energy consumption without impacting model performance. The LLSC has also created a software that allows data center owners to set power limits on GPUs. They have developed a model for hyperparameter optimization that reduces energy waste, and an optimizer that matches models with the most carbon-efficient mix of hardware for inference. These interventions have the potential to advance the way AI models are trained and decrease energy consumption by 10-20%. The LLSC team is promoting transparency and sustainability in the industry and is collaborating with manufacturers and the U.S. Air Force to implement their energy-saving techniques in other data centers.