How Much Computing Power is in a Data Center?

Every day there’s some new story about the enormous amounts of investment in building AI data centers. The Wall Street Journal reports that, as a fraction of GDP, AI capital spending in 2026 alone will be more than was spent on the decade-long build-up of the national railroad system, federal expenditures to create the interstate highway system, or the entire Apollo program. Bloomberg reports that AI data center spending might reach as much as $3 trillion. The Electric Power Research Institute i...