Centres of attention: building for the global data boom

For everything that happens online, there is a server in a room somewhere doing the work. The physical underpinning of everything that happens online has become big business. Demand for server capacity is growing rapidly with the development of cloud computing and AI, and so is the need for the massive, energy-hungry data centres that support it. The location of those digital warehouses is now crucial, not just for speed and proximity, but for the new tussles over data protectionism. So how will economic and geopolitical considerations shape the data-centre industry? Hosts: Mike Bird, Alice Fulwood and Tom Lee-Devlin. Guests: The Economist’s Ethan Wu; Cheam Tat Inn, managing director of Equinix Malaysia; and Waldemar Szlezak, global head of digital infrastructure at investment firm KKR. Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts. Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.