Why there are Datacenters in NY, Hong Kong, and Tokyo?
Why are there so many data centers in New York, Hong Kong, and Tokyo? These urban centers have some of the most expensive real estate in the world. The cost of labor is high. The tax environment is unfavorable. Power costs are high. Construction is difficult to permit and expensive. Urban datacenters are incredibly expensive facilities and yet a huge percentage of the world’s computing is done in expensive urban centers. One of my favorite examples is the 111 8th Ave data center in New York. Google bought this datacenter for $1.9B. They already have facilities on the Columbia river where the power and land are cheap. Why go to New York when neither is true? Google is innovating in cooling technologies in their Belgium facility where they are using waste water cooling. Why go to New York where the facility is conventional, the power source predominantly coal-sourced ...
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