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The Download: how to save social media, and “leftover” embryos

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. We need to protect the protocol that runs Bluesky —Eli Pariser & Deepti Doshi Last week, when Mark Zuckerberg announced Meta would be ending third-party fact-checking, it was a shocking pivot, but not exactly surprising. It’s just the latest example of a billionaire flip-flop affecting our social lives on the internet.  Zuckerberg isn’t the only social media CEO careening all over the road: Elon Musk, since buying Twitter in 2022 and touting free speech as “the bedrock of a functioning democracy,” has suspended journalists, restored tens of thousands of banned users, brought back political advertising, and weakened verification and harassment policies.  Unfortunately, these capricious billionaires can do whatever they want because of an ownership model that privileges singular, centralized control in exchange for shareholder returns. The internet doesn’t need to be like this. But as luck would have it, a new way is emerging just in time. Read the full story. Deciding the fate of “leftover” embryos Over the past few months, I’ve been working on a piece about IVF embryos. The goal of in vitro fertilization is to create babies via a bit of lab work: Trigger the release of lots of eggs, introduce them to sperm in a lab, transfer one of the resulting embryos into a person’s uterus, and cross your fingers for a healthy pregnancy. Sometimes it doesn’t work. But often it does. For the article, I explored what happens to the healthy embryos that are left over. These days, responsible IVF clinics will always talk to people about the possibility of having leftover embryos before they begin treatment. But it can be really difficult to make these decisions before you’ve even started treatment, and some people can’t imagine having any left over—or how they might feel about them. Read the full story.—Jessica Hamzelou This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here. MIT Technology Review Narrated: Palmer Luckey on the Pentagon’s future of mixed reality Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus VR, has set his sights on a new mixed-reality headset customer: the Pentagon. If designed well, his company Anduril’s headset will automatically sort through countless pieces of information and flag the most important ones to soldiers in real time. But that’s a big “if.”This is our latest story to be turned into a MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we’re publishing each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it’s released. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 The Biden administration won’t force through a TikTok banBut TikTok could choose to shut itself down on Sunday to prove a point. (ABC News)+ A Supreme Court decision is expected later today. (NYT $)+ Every platform has a touch of TikTok about it these days. (The Atlantic $) 2 Apple is pausing its AI news featureBecause it can’t be trusted to meld news stories together without hallucinating. (BBC)+ The company is working on a fix to roll out in a future software update. (WP $) 3 Meta is preparing for Donald Trump’s mass deportationsBy relaxing speech policies around immigration, Meta is poised to shape public opinion towards accepting Trump’s plans to tear families apart. (404 Media) 4 An uncrewed SpaceX rocket exploded during a test flightElon Musk says it was probably caused by a leak. (WSJ $) 5 The FBI believes that hackers accessed its agents’ call logsThe data could link investigators to their secret sources. (Bloomberg $) 6 What it’s like fighting fire with waterDumping water on LA’s wildfires may be inelegant, but it is effective. (NY Mag $)+ How investigators are attempting to trace the fires’ origins. (BBC) 7 The road to adapting Tesla’s charges for other EVs is far from smoothBut it is happening, slowly but surely. (IEEE Spectrum)+ Donald Trump isn’t a fan of EVs, but the market is undoubtedly growing. (Vox)+ Why EV charging needs more than Tesla. (MIT Technology Review) 8 Bionic hands are getting far more sensitive 🦾A new study is shedding light on how to make them feel more realistic. (FT $)+ These prosthetics break the mold with third thumbs, spikes, and superhero skins. (MIT Technology Review) 9 Gen Z can’t get enough of astrology apps 🌌Stargazing is firmly back ein vogue among the younger generations. (Economist $) 10 Nintendo has finally unveiled its long-awaited Switch 2 consoleOnly for it to look a whole lot like its predecessor. (WSJ $)+ But it’ll probably sell a shedload of units anyway. (Wired $) Quote of the day “Going viral is like winning the lottery—nearly impossible to replicate.” —Sarah Schauer, a former star on defunct video app Vine, offers creators left nervous by TikTok’s uncertain future in the US some advice, the Washington Post reports. The big story After 25 years of hype, embryonic stem cells are still waiting for their moment​ August 2023 In 1998, researchers isolated powerful stem cells from human embryos. It was a breakthrough, since these cells are the starting point for human bodies and have the capacity to turn into any other type of cell—heart cells, neurons, you name it. National Geographic would later summarize the incredible promise: “the dream is to launch a medical revolution in which ailing organs and tissues might be repaired” with living replacements. It was the dawn of a new era. A holy grail. Pick your favorite cliché—they all got airtime. Yet today, more than two decades later, there are no treatments on the market based on these cells. Not one. Our biotech editor Antonio Regalado set out to investigate why, and when that might change. Here’s what he discovered. We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.) + If you’re planning on catching up with a friend this weekend—stop! You should be hanging out instead.+ David Lynch was a true visionary; an innovative artist and master of the truly weird. The world is a duller place without him.+ The very best instant noodles, ranked ($)+  Congratulations to the highly exclusive Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary.

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

We need to protect the protocol that runs Bluesky

—Eli Pariser & Deepti Doshi

Last week, when Mark Zuckerberg announced Meta would be ending third-party fact-checking, it was a shocking pivot, but not exactly surprising. It’s just the latest example of a billionaire flip-flop affecting our social lives on the internet. 

Zuckerberg isn’t the only social media CEO careening all over the road: Elon Musk, since buying Twitter in 2022 and touting free speech as “the bedrock of a functioning democracy,” has suspended journalists, restored tens of thousands of banned users, brought back political advertising, and weakened verification and harassment policies. 

Unfortunately, these capricious billionaires can do whatever they want because of an ownership model that privileges singular, centralized control in exchange for shareholder returns. The internet doesn’t need to be like this. But as luck would have it, a new way is emerging just in time. Read the full story.

Deciding the fate of “leftover” embryos

Over the past few months, I’ve been working on a piece about IVF embryos. The goal of in vitro fertilization is to create babies via a bit of lab work: Trigger the release of lots of eggs, introduce them to sperm in a lab, transfer one of the resulting embryos into a person’s uterus, and cross your fingers for a healthy pregnancy. Sometimes it doesn’t work. But often it does. For the article, I explored what happens to the healthy embryos that are left over.

These days, responsible IVF clinics will always talk to people about the possibility of having leftover embryos before they begin treatment. But it can be really difficult to make these decisions before you’ve even started treatment, and some people can’t imagine having any left over—or how they might feel about them. Read the full story.

—Jessica Hamzelou

This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here.

MIT Technology Review Narrated: Palmer Luckey on the Pentagon’s future of mixed reality

Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus VR, has set his sights on a new mixed-reality headset customer: the Pentagon. If designed well, his company Anduril’s headset will automatically sort through countless pieces of information and flag the most important ones to soldiers in real time. But that’s a big “if.”

This is our latest story to be turned into a MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we’re publishing each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it’s released.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 The Biden administration won’t force through a TikTok ban
But TikTok could choose to shut itself down on Sunday to prove a point. (ABC News)
+ A Supreme Court decision is expected later today. (NYT $)
+ Every platform has a touch of TikTok about it these days. (The Atlantic $)

2 Apple is pausing its AI news feature
Because it can’t be trusted to meld news stories together without hallucinating. (BBC)
+ The company is working on a fix to roll out in a future software update. (WP $)

3 Meta is preparing for Donald Trump’s mass deportations
By relaxing speech policies around immigration, Meta is poised to shape public opinion towards accepting Trump’s plans to tear families apart. (404 Media)

4 An uncrewed SpaceX rocket exploded during a test flight
Elon Musk says it was probably caused by a leak. (WSJ $)

5 The FBI believes that hackers accessed its agents’ call logs
The data could link investigators to their secret sources. (Bloomberg $)

6 What it’s like fighting fire with water
Dumping water on LA’s wildfires may be inelegant, but it is effective. (NY Mag $)
+ How investigators are attempting to trace the fires’ origins. (BBC)

7 The road to adapting Tesla’s charges for other EVs is far from smooth
But it is happening, slowly but surely. (IEEE Spectrum)
+ Donald Trump isn’t a fan of EVs, but the market is undoubtedly growing. (Vox)
+ Why EV charging needs more than Tesla. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Bionic hands are getting far more sensitive 🦾
A new study is shedding light on how to make them feel more realistic. (FT $)
+ These prosthetics break the mold with third thumbs, spikes, and superhero skins. (MIT Technology Review)

9 Gen Z can’t get enough of astrology apps 🌌
Stargazing is firmly back ein vogue among the younger generations. (Economist $)

10 Nintendo has finally unveiled its long-awaited Switch 2 console
Only for it to look a whole lot like its predecessor. (WSJ $)
+ But it’ll probably sell a shedload of units anyway. (Wired $)

Quote of the day

“Going viral is like winning the lottery—nearly impossible to replicate.”

—Sarah Schauer, a former star on defunct video app Vine, offers creators left nervous by TikTok’s uncertain future in the US some advice, the Washington Post reports.

The big story

After 25 years of hype, embryonic stem cells are still waiting for their moment​

August 2023

In 1998, researchers isolated powerful stem cells from human embryos. It was a breakthrough, since these cells are the starting point for human bodies and have the capacity to turn into any other type of cell—heart cells, neurons, you name it.

National Geographic would later summarize the incredible promise: “the dream is to launch a medical revolution in which ailing organs and tissues might be repaired” with living replacements. It was the dawn of a new era. A holy grail. Pick your favorite cliché—they all got airtime.

Yet today, more than two decades later, there are no treatments on the market based on these cells. Not one. Our biotech editor Antonio Regalado set out to investigate why, and when that might change. Here’s what he discovered.

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ If you’re planning on catching up with a friend this weekend—stop! You should be hanging out instead.
+ David Lynch was a true visionary; an innovative artist and master of the truly weird. The world is a duller place without him.
+ The very best instant noodles, ranked ($)
+  Congratulations to the highly exclusive Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary.

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CBRE selects EVPassport to roll out 3,600 chargers

CBRE has tapped Santa Monica, Calif.-based EVPassport to provide EV charging solutions to its clients. The deal will involve more than 3,600 chargers across some 600 U.S. sites, the company announced Thursday. The agreement will enable property owners and operators to provide charging to residents and tenants. The focus is

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7 time-saving Linux commands

$ fortune | rev!ti deteled dna ,ti daer resu-repus eht tub ,liam dah uoY The shuf command allows you to randomize the lines in a file. Here’s a sample file and the results of shuffling its contents. $ cat namesBillDannyDorothyJimJoanneJohnMartyNancySandraStewart$ shuf namesJimNancyJoanneMartySandraDorothyStewartBillDannyJohn Each time you run shuf, the output should

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Want to transform networking? Empower the missing users

Nokia seems to have the same goal, but it is taking a different route to reach it. Rather than trying to assemble the ingredients of the kind of IoT needed for empowerment, they start with a recipe—the digital twin. Digital twins are computer models of real-world systems, designed to assemble

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Malaysia Awards Two PSCs Offshore Borneo

Petroliam Nasional Bhd. (Petronas) has signed two production sharing contracts (PSCs) for exploration blocks in the waters of Sabah state, the last leases awarded by Malaysia’s national oil and gas company under the 2024 bid round. Last year’s area auction saw a total of 14 licenses go to 12 operators. The PSCs involved 11 so-called Discovered Resource Opportunities (DROs) and three exploration blocks, Petronas said in an online statement Tuesday. A consortium comprising Japan’s INPEX Corp., Petronas and Sabah’s state-owned SMJ Energy Sdn. Bhd. won the last two PSCs: SB306A and SB306B. In both PSCs, INPEX, through INPEX Malaysia E&P SB306A Sdn. Bhd., is operator with a 50 percent stake. Petronas, through Petronas Carigali Sdn. Bhd., holds 42.5 percent. SMJ Energy owns 7.5 percent, according to a separate press release by INPEX. “The newly acquired blocks are expected to contribute to INPEX’s expansion of natural gas and LNG business as outlined in INPEX Vision 2035 announced in February 2025 as well as expand the company’s operations in Southeast Asia”, INPEX said, noting it has now increased its exploration blocks in Malaysia to six. “INPEX is committed to further strengthening its business in Malaysia and will continue to actively engage in this effort”. Petronas also announced Tuesday the signing of two Technical Evaluation Agreements for the Langkasuka Basin in the Straits of Malacca and the Layang-Layang Basin offshore Sabah, one of two Malaysian states in Borneo, an island shared with Brunei and Indonesia. “These agreements, made with seven leading oil and gas companies – BP, Eni, INPEX, PETRONAS Carigali, Pertamina, PTTEP and TotalEnergies – underscore PETRONAS’ commitment to unlocking frontier basins and driving exploration at these promising regions”, Petronas said. Concurrently Petronas launched area bidding for 2025. The round offers five exploration blocks in the Malay and Penyu basins offshore Peninsular Malaysia and

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Aberdeen subsea specialist to expand after £10m sales

Subsea Supplies, an Aberdeen-based supplier of offshore and underwater technology equipment, has had a record-breaking financial year with turnover hitting £10 million in 2024. This caps a landmark year as the business celebrates its 25th anniversary with plans to expand its workforce and double production capabilities. Subsea Supplies provides equipment for remote operated and unmanned underwater vehicles, ocean science and defence sectors. It has grown significantly over the last decade. Its team has gone from just three employees to 15. It now serves clients across over 45 countries, including major markets such as the US, China, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Norway. © Supplied by Subsea SuppliesAndrew Smith, managing director and Pauline McCann, sales director of Subsea Supplies. Image: Subsea Supplies Sales director Pauline McCann said reaching £10m in turnover represents a record for Subsea Supplies. She also highlighted the company’s strategy of continual investment, not just in its workforce, but in its facilities and production capabilities. “Reaching the £10m milestone is a tremendous achievement and a testament to the hard work of our team and the loyalty of our customers and partners,” she said. “As we look ahead to 2025, we are investing in every aspect of the business, from scaling up our facilities and enhancing production capabilities to strengthening our brand and growing our team.” Ms McCann said this continued investment will allow the firm to better serve customers globally and drive further growth in the years to come. “For more than two decades, we have formed partnerships with respected brands, delivering equipment for a broad spectrum of underwater activities,” she added. “We’ve built our reputation on industry knowledge, a track record for delivery and unparalleled customer service in the supply of quality components.” Major expansion for Subsea Supplies Driving this success, Ms McCann said Subsea Supplies

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Oil Flows from Iran to China Jump as Traders Work Around US Restrictions

Oil flows from Iran to China rebounded this month after traders smoothed out logistical bottlenecks caused by tighter US curbs, enabling buyers in the largest importer to shift a backlog of cargoes. An increase in ship-to-ship transfers, plus the emergence of alternative receiving terminals, led to the jump, according to traders who participate in the market and asked not to be identified because the matter is sensitive. Imports over February are seen swelling to 1.74 million barrels a day, according to preliminary data from intelligence firm Kpler Ltd. That’s 86 percent higher than the daily rate in January, and the most since October, the data showed.  China is typically the largest taker of Iranian crude, with most cargoes going to smaller, independent refiners known as teapots. The trade — a key source of revenue for Tehran — has faced pressure from rounds of US sanctions, with the incoming Trump administration also tightening curbs earlier this month. In an indication of the pressure, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last week that the US aimed to squeeze Iran’s oil exports to less than 10 percent of current levels. Chinese, as well as perhaps Indians, were buying sanctioned oil “and that is unacceptable,” Bessent told Fox Business. Scrutiny had risen since late last year, during the final months of the Biden administration. Dozens of tankers, traders and shippers have been blacklisted and sanctioned, prompting additional caution from buyers and logistics operators. Still, the supply chain responded almost as quickly, with the use of unsanctioned tankers and new shell companies, the traders said. WHAT DO YOU THINK? Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed. MORE FROM THIS AUTHOR Bloomberg

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PG&E tries to reassure investors amid growing wildfire concerns

Dive Brief: Pacific Gas and Electric is in talks with with state officials about a possible expansion of California’s public wildfire insurance fund, company leaders said Thursday during a fourth quarter earnings call. Although equipment owned by PG&E has not been implicated in the recent spate of wildfires in Southern California, investors have expressed concern that a catastrophic wildfire could deplete the state fund, which reimburses utilities for payouts to the victims of wildfires if the fire is triggered by a participating utility. In addition to seeking reassurance from state officials about the fund, PG&E has also made extensive investments in wildfire mitigation, CEO Patti Poppe said. But she also said substantial improvements to the utility’s credit rating, which suffered as a result of the company’s wildfire-related bankruptcy in 2019, were probably “off the table” for the time being. Dive Insight: PG&E was not involved in last month’s catastrophic Los Angeles-area wildfires, but the company’s financial standing could take a hit nonetheless as investors raise questions about its ability to withstand a similar fire in the future, Poppe said. Like many utilities in the western United States, PG&E has seen its credit rating downgraded as a result of increased wildfire litigation around the nation. And while the company has worked to improve its financial performance and demonstrate recovery from its 2019 bankruptcy — which was triggered by a series of costly wildfire-related lawsuits — last month’s wildfires have likely eliminated the possibility that the company’s’ credit score will improve substantially this year, Poppe said. “We still remain confident … that the rating agencies will recognize our progress in time,” she told investors on Thursday. “We were hoping maybe even for a two-notch upgrade. We think that’s absolutely off the table. But we do believe that we will be recognized for

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EV nonprofit holds out hope for embattled IRA tax credits

Dive Brief: National nonprofits dedicated to promoting EVs have urged people in their networks to call their legislators and tell them they have benefited from federal tax credits for purchasing EVs, according to Stuart Gardner, executive director of Generation180. Despite President Donald Trump’s vocal opposition to EVs, his executive order rolling back nationwide EV targets left the EV tax credits created by the Inflation Reduction Act intact. Tax credits for the purchase of EVs may be more difficult to roll back than incentives for EV charging infrastructure—and the loss of infrastructure incentives could have a greater impact on the EV industry than losing the tax credits, according to John Higham of the Electric Vehicle Association. Dive Insight: Generation180, the Electric Vehicle Association and other national nonprofits say EV enthusiasts should contact their legislators and talk to them about how they have personally benefited from tax credits for electric vehicles in an effort to head off cuts to incentives that so far remain untouched by the Trump administration. Despite the executive order ending EV sales targets, the Trump administration has left the 30D tax credit for the purchase of electric vehicles untouched — and revising the tax credit may require an act of Congress that could be difficult to push through the House, Higham said. With new battery and EV plants set to create jobs in states like North Caolina and Georgia, representatives from those districts are likely to feel protective of those particular tax credits, Higham said. On top of this, the Trump administration has not altered a Biden-era policy on incentives for leasing electric vehicles. Higham described this as a likely oversight on the administration’s part, given that President Donald Trump could easily overturn the policy, which was based on the Biden administration’s interpretation of existing law. The Trump administration’s spending

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National Grid opens consultation on North Humber to High Marnham power line

National Grid has launched a public consultation on its latest proposals for the planned North Humber to High Marnham overhead electricity transmission line The link would run for approximately 90km between two new substations at Birkhill Wood and High Marnham. National Grid said that the North Humber to High Marnham line will reinforce the electricity transmission network and help provide much-needed additional capacity between the North of England and the Midlands. Project director for North Humber to High Marnham Monica Corso Griffiths commented: “As demand for electricity is set to double, we need to increase the capacity of the network between the North of England and the Midlands. This will support the government’s decarbonisation targets, so that people living and working in these areas and beyond can benefit from the new renewable sources of energy planned to connect. “We’re looking forward to sharing our detailed plans for North Humber to High Marnham with communities over the next eight weeks. We encourage anyone interested to take part in our consultation and share their views on the plans.” National Grid previously consulted communities on its early proposals for the project at two non-statutory consultations in 2023 and 2024. Since then, it has carefully reviewed the feedback received alongside the outcome of technical and environmental studies. This work has fed into the development of detailed plans, including a preferred route alignment. National Grid is now seeking feedback on these detailed plans ahead of submitting an application for development consent to the Planning Inspectorate next year. The eight-week consultation begins 18 February and runs until 15 April 2025. The Humber is a growing hub of the UK’s green energy transition, with several industries, including carbon capture and storage and hydrogen, taking advantage of its industrial legacy to access infrastructure and skills. The region is

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Data center spending to top $1 trillion by 2029 as AI transforms infrastructure

His projections account for recent advances in AI and data center efficiency, he says. For example, the open-source AI model from Chinese company DeepSeek seems to have shown that an LLM can produce very high-quality results at a very low cost with some clever architectural changes to how the models work. These improvements are likely to be quickly replicated by other AI companies. “A lot of these companies are trying to push out more efficient models,” says Fung. “There’s a lot of effort to reduce costs and to make it more efficient.” In addition, hyperscalers are designing and building their own chips, optimized for their AI workloads. Just the accelerator market alone is projected to reach $392 billion by 2029, Dell’Oro predicts. By that time, custom accelerators will outpace commercially available accelerators such as GPUs. The deployment of dedicated AI servers also has an impact on networking, power and cooling. As a result, spending on data center physical infrastructure (DCPI) will also increase, though at a more moderate pace, growing by 14% annually to $61 billion in 2029.  “DCPI deployments are a prerequisite to support AI workloads,” says Tam Dell’Oro, founder of Dell’Oro Group, in the report. The research firm raised its outlook in this area due to the fact that actual 2024 results exceeded its expectations, and demand is spreading from tier one to tier two cloud service providers. In addition, governments and tier one telecom operators are getting involved in data center expansion, making it a long-term trend.

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The Future of Property Values and Power in Virginia’s Loudoun County and ‘Data Center Alley’

Loudoun County’s FY 2026 Proposed Budget Is Released This week, Virginia’s Loudoun County released its FY 2026 Proposed Budget. The document notes how data centers are a major driver of revenue growth in Loudoun County, contributing significantly to both personal and real property tax revenues. As noted above, data centers generate almost 50% of Loudoun County property tax revenues. Importantly, Loudoun County has now implemented measures such as a Revenue Stabilization Fund (RSF) to manage the risks associated with this revenue dependency. The FY 2026 budget reflects the strong growth in data center-related revenue, allowing for tax rate reductions while still funding critical services and infrastructure projects. But the county is mindful of the potential volatility in data center revenue and is planning for long-term fiscal sustainability. The FY 2026 Proposed Budget notes how Loudoun County’s revenue from personal property taxes, particularly from data centers, has grown significantly. From FY 2013 to FY 2026, revenue from this source has increased from $60 million to over $800 million. Additionally, the county said its FY 2026 Proposed Budget benefits from $150 million in new revenue from the personal property tax portfolio, with $133 million generated specifically from computer equipment (primarily data centers). The county said data centers have also significantly impacted the real property tax portfolio. In Tax Year (TY) 2025, 73% of the county’s commercial portfolio is composed of data centers. The county said its overall commercial portfolio experienced a 50% increase in value between TY 2024 and TY 2025, largely driven by the appreciation of data center properties. RSF Meets Positive Economic Outlook The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors created the aformentioned Revenue Stabilization Fund (RSF) to manage the risks associated with the county’s reliance on data center-related revenue. The RSF targets 10% of data center-related real and personal property tax

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Deep Diving on DeepSeek: AI Disruption and the Future of Liquid Cooling

We know that the data center industry is currently undergoing a period of rapid transformation, driven by the increasing demands of artificial intelligence (AI) workloads and evolving cooling technologies. And it appears that the recent emergence of DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup, alongside supply chain issues for NVIDIA’s next-generation GB200 AI chips, may be prompting data center operators to reconsider their cooling strategies. Angela Taylor, Chief of Staff at LiquidStack, provided insights to Data Center Frontier on these developments, outlining potential shifts in the industry and the future of liquid cooling adoption. DeepSeek’s Market Entry and Supply Chain Disruptions Taylor told DCF, “DeepSeek’s entry into the market, combined with NVIDIA’s GB200 supply chain delays, is giving data center operators a lot to think about.” At issue here is how DeepSeek’s R1 chatbot came out of the box positioned an energy-efficient AI model that reportedly requires significantly less power than many of its competitors. This development raises questions about whether current data center cooling infrastructures are adequate, particularly as AI workloads become more specialized and diverse. At the same time, NVIDIA’s highly anticipated GB200 NVL72 AI servers, designed to handle next-generation AI workloads, are reportedly facing supply chain bottlenecks. Advanced design requirements, particularly for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and power-efficient cooling systems, have delayed shipments, with peak availability now expected between Q2 and Q3 of 2025.  This combination of a new AI player and delayed hardware supply has created uncertainty, compelling data center operators to reconsider their near-term cooling infrastructure investments. A Temporary Slowdown in AI Data Center Retrofits? Taylor also observed, “We may see a short-term slowdown in AI data center retrofits as operators assess whether air cooling can now meet their needs.” The efficiency of DeepSeek’s AI models suggests that some AI workloads may require less power and generate less heat, making air

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Georgia Follows Ohio’s Lead in Moving Energy Costs to Data Centers

The rule also mandates that any new contracts between Georgia Power and large-load customers exceeding 100 MW be submitted to the PSC for review. This provision ensures regulatory oversight and transparency in agreements that could significantly impact the state’s power grid and ratepayers. Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald points out that this is one of a number of actions that the PSC is planning to protect ratepayers, and that the PSC’s 2025 Integrated Resource Plan will further address data center power usage. Keeping Ahead of Anticipated Energy Demand This regulatory change reflects Georgia’s proactive approach to managing the increasing energy demands associated with the state’s growing data center industry, aiming to balance economic development with the interests of all electricity consumers. Georgia Power has been trying very hard to develop generation capacity to meet it’s expected usage pattern, but the demand is increasing at an incredible rate. In their projection for increased energy demand, the 2022 number was 400 MW by 2030. A year later, in their 2023 Integrated Resource Plan, the anticipated increase had grown to 6600 MW by 2030. Georgia Power recently brought online two new nuclear reactors at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, significantly increasing its nuclear generation capacity giving the four unit power generation station a capacity of over 4.5 GW. This development has contributed to a shift in Georgia’s energy mix, with clean energy sources surpassing fossil fuels for the first time. But despite the commitment to nuclear power, the company is also in the process of developing three new power plants at the Yates Steam Generating Plant. According to the AJC newspaper, regulators had approved the construction of fossil fuel power, approving natural gas and oil-fired power plants. Designed as “peaker” plants to come online at times of increased the demand, the power plants will

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Chevron, GE Vernova, Engine No.1 Join Race to Co-Locate Natural Gas Plants for U.S. Data Centers

Other Recent Natural Gas Developments for Data Centers As of February 2025, the data center industry has seen a host of significant developments in natural gas plant technologies and strategic partnerships aimed at meeting the escalating energy demands driven by AI and cloud computing. In addition to the partnership between Chevron, Engine No. 1, and GE Vernova, other consequential initiatives include the following: ExxonMobil’s Entry into the Electricity Market ExxonMobil has announced plans to build natural gas-fired power plants to supply electricity to AI data centers. The company intends to leverage carbon capture and storage technology to minimize emissions, positioning its natural gas solutions as competitive alternatives to nuclear power. This announcement in particular seemed to herald a notable shift in industry as fossil fuel companies venture into the electricity market to meet the rising demand for low-carbon power. Powerconnex Inc.’s Natural Gas Plant in Ohio An Ohio data center in New Albany, developed by Powerconnex Inc., plans to construct a natural gas-fired power plant on-site to meet its electricity needs amidst the AI industry’s increasing energy demands. The New Albany Energy Center is expected to generate up to 120 megawatts (MW) of electricity, with construction beginning in Q4 2025 and operations commencing by Q1 2026. Crusoe and Kalina Distributed Power Partnership in Alberta, Canada AI data center developer Crusoe has entered into a multi-year framework agreement with Kalina Distributed Power to develop multiple co-located AI data centers powered by natural gas power plants in Alberta, Canada. Crusoe will own and operate the data centers, purchasing power from three Kalina-owned 170 MW gas-fired power plants through 15-year Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs). Entergy’s Natural Gas Power Plants for Data Centers Entergy plans to deploy three new natural gas power plants, providing over 2,200 MW of energy over 15 years, pending approval

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Podcast: Phill Lawson-Shanks, Chief Innovation Officer, Aligned Data Centers

In the latest episode of the Data Center Frontier Show podcast, DCF Editor-in-Chief Matt Vincent sits down with Phill Lawson-Shanks, Chief Innovation Officer at Aligned Data Centers, for a wide-ranging discussion that touches on some of the most pressing trends and challenges shaping the future of the data center industry. From the role of nuclear energy and natural gas in addressing the sector’s growing power demands, to the rapid expansion of Aligned’s operations in Latin America (LATAM), in the course of the podcast Lawson-Shanks provides deep insight into where the industry is headed. Scaling Sustainability: Tracking Embodied Carbon and Scope 3 Emissions A key focus of the conversation is sustainability, where Aligned continues to push boundaries in carbon tracking and energy efficiency. Lawson-Shanks highlights the company’s commitment to monitoring embodied carbon—an effort that began four years ago and has since positioned Aligned as an industry leader. “We co-authored and helped found the Climate Accord with iMasons—taking sustainability to a whole new level,” he notes, emphasizing how Aligned is now extending its carbon traceability standards to ODATA’s facilities in LATAM. By implementing lifecycle assessments (LCAs) and tracking Scope 3 emissions, Aligned aims to provide clients with a detailed breakdown of their environmental impact. “The North American market is still behind in lifecycle assessments and environmental product declarations. Where gaps exist, we look for adjacencies and highlight them—helping move the industry forward,” Lawson-Shanks explains. The Nuclear Moment: A Game-Changer for Data Center Power One of the most compelling segments of the discussion revolves around the growing interest in nuclear energy—particularly small modular reactors (SMRs) and microreactors—as a viable long-term power solution for data centers. Lawson-Shanks describes the recent industry buzz surrounding Oklo’s announcement of a 12-gigawatt deployment with Switch as a significant milestone, calling the move “inevitable.” “There are dozens of nuclear

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Microsoft will invest $80B in AI data centers in fiscal 2025

And Microsoft isn’t the only one that is ramping up its investments into AI-enabled data centers. Rival cloud service providers are all investing in either upgrading or opening new data centers to capture a larger chunk of business from developers and users of large language models (LLMs).  In a report published in October 2024, Bloomberg Intelligence estimated that demand for generative AI would push Microsoft, AWS, Google, Oracle, Meta, and Apple would between them devote $200 billion to capex in 2025, up from $110 billion in 2023. Microsoft is one of the biggest spenders, followed closely by Google and AWS, Bloomberg Intelligence said. Its estimate of Microsoft’s capital spending on AI, at $62.4 billion for calendar 2025, is lower than Smith’s claim that the company will invest $80 billion in the fiscal year to June 30, 2025. Both figures, though, are way higher than Microsoft’s 2020 capital expenditure of “just” $17.6 billion. The majority of the increased spending is tied to cloud services and the expansion of AI infrastructure needed to provide compute capacity for OpenAI workloads. Separately, last October Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said his company planned total capex spend of $75 billion in 2024 and even more in 2025, with much of it going to AWS, its cloud computing division.

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John Deere unveils more autonomous farm machines to address skill labor shortage

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Self-driving tractors might be the path to self-driving cars. John Deere has revealed a new line of autonomous machines and tech across agriculture, construction and commercial landscaping. The Moline, Illinois-based John Deere has been in business for 187 years, yet it’s been a regular as a non-tech company showing off technology at the big tech trade show in Las Vegas and is back at CES 2025 with more autonomous tractors and other vehicles. This is not something we usually cover, but John Deere has a lot of data that is interesting in the big picture of tech. The message from the company is that there aren’t enough skilled farm laborers to do the work that its customers need. It’s been a challenge for most of the last two decades, said Jahmy Hindman, CTO at John Deere, in a briefing. Much of the tech will come this fall and after that. He noted that the average farmer in the U.S. is over 58 and works 12 to 18 hours a day to grow food for us. And he said the American Farm Bureau Federation estimates there are roughly 2.4 million farm jobs that need to be filled annually; and the agricultural work force continues to shrink. (This is my hint to the anti-immigration crowd). John Deere’s autonomous 9RX Tractor. Farmers can oversee it using an app. While each of these industries experiences their own set of challenges, a commonality across all is skilled labor availability. In construction, about 80% percent of contractors struggle to find skilled labor. And in commercial landscaping, 86% of landscaping business owners can’t find labor to fill open positions, he said. “They have to figure out how to do

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2025 playbook for enterprise AI success, from agents to evals

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More 2025 is poised to be a pivotal year for enterprise AI. The past year has seen rapid innovation, and this year will see the same. This has made it more critical than ever to revisit your AI strategy to stay competitive and create value for your customers. From scaling AI agents to optimizing costs, here are the five critical areas enterprises should prioritize for their AI strategy this year. 1. Agents: the next generation of automation AI agents are no longer theoretical. In 2025, they’re indispensable tools for enterprises looking to streamline operations and enhance customer interactions. Unlike traditional software, agents powered by large language models (LLMs) can make nuanced decisions, navigate complex multi-step tasks, and integrate seamlessly with tools and APIs. At the start of 2024, agents were not ready for prime time, making frustrating mistakes like hallucinating URLs. They started getting better as frontier large language models themselves improved. “Let me put it this way,” said Sam Witteveen, cofounder of Red Dragon, a company that develops agents for companies, and that recently reviewed the 48 agents it built last year. “Interestingly, the ones that we built at the start of the year, a lot of those worked way better at the end of the year just because the models got better.” Witteveen shared this in the video podcast we filmed to discuss these five big trends in detail. Models are getting better and hallucinating less, and they’re also being trained to do agentic tasks. Another feature that the model providers are researching is a way to use the LLM as a judge, and as models get cheaper (something we’ll cover below), companies can use three or more models to

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OpenAI’s red teaming innovations define new essentials for security leaders in the AI era

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More OpenAI has taken a more aggressive approach to red teaming than its AI competitors, demonstrating its security teams’ advanced capabilities in two areas: multi-step reinforcement and external red teaming. OpenAI recently released two papers that set a new competitive standard for improving the quality, reliability and safety of AI models in these two techniques and more. The first paper, “OpenAI’s Approach to External Red Teaming for AI Models and Systems,” reports that specialized teams outside the company have proven effective in uncovering vulnerabilities that might otherwise have made it into a released model because in-house testing techniques may have missed them. In the second paper, “Diverse and Effective Red Teaming with Auto-Generated Rewards and Multi-Step Reinforcement Learning,” OpenAI introduces an automated framework that relies on iterative reinforcement learning to generate a broad spectrum of novel, wide-ranging attacks. Going all-in on red teaming pays practical, competitive dividends It’s encouraging to see competitive intensity in red teaming growing among AI companies. When Anthropic released its AI red team guidelines in June of last year, it joined AI providers including Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, and even the U.S.’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which all had released red teaming frameworks. Investing heavily in red teaming yields tangible benefits for security leaders in any organization. OpenAI’s paper on external red teaming provides a detailed analysis of how the company strives to create specialized external teams that include cybersecurity and subject matter experts. The goal is to see if knowledgeable external teams can defeat models’ security perimeters and find gaps in their security, biases and controls that prompt-based testing couldn’t find. What makes OpenAI’s recent papers noteworthy is how well they define using human-in-the-middle

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