How Data Centers Became the Leading Villain of 2025
In Hollywood and real life, the once-unremarkable facilities have taken a leading role.
Inside a NextDC Ltd. data center in Sydney.
Photographer: Brent Lewin/BloombergEach year, Bloomberg Businessweek produces a series of stories focused on The Year Ahead. (See the sensible guide to 2026.) But here at Businessweek Daily, we’re not ready to give up on 2025 yet. We asked some of our regular newsletter writers to review major themes, moments and players in the news for a series we’re calling The Year Behind. Today, Christopher Beam looks at how 2025 became the year of the data center. With the artificial intelligence boom, these once-unremarkable facilities have surged to the forefront of the national consciousness. And many people don’t like what they see.
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