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President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday he was ready to hold new elections in Ukraine provided security could be assured, and that he expected to send Washington within a day revised proposals on ending the nearly four-year war with Russia.US President Donald Trump is pressuring Kyiv to accept a deal formulated by Washington, the initial version of which was criticised by Ukraine’s allies as overly favourable to Russia.”We are working today (Tuesday) and will continue tomorrow (Wednesday). I think we will hand it over tomorrow,” Zelensky told reporters after shuttling between European capitals to hammer out a response with allies.Trump, who earlier accused Zelensky of not reading the latest US proposals, said Russia had the “upper hand” in the conflict, in an interview with Politico published on Tuesday.He also accused Kyiv of “using war” to avoid elections, which have been postponed under the imposition of martial law since Russia invaded its neighbour.”You know, they talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it’s not a democracy anymore,” Trump said.Ukrainian law prohibits holding elections under martial law, without which a presidential ballot was to have taken place in March 2024.But on Tuesday, following Trump’s comments, Zelensky said he was ready to organise a new ballot.”I am ready for the elections,” Zelensky told journalists, adding that he was asking Ukrainian lawmakers to prepare “proposals regarding the possibility of amending the legislative foundations and the law on elections during martial law”.He said that, for the vote to take place, security had to be assured in the country whose cities come under Russian drone and missile attacks on a daily basis.”I am now asking, I declare this openly, for the United States of America to help me, possibly together with European colleagues, to ensure security for holding elections,” he said.- ‘No legal right’ -Zelensky spent the past few days shuttling between European capitals to hammer out a response to the US plan. On Monday he held talks with European leaders in London and Brussels. On Tuesday, he went to Italy to meet Pope Leo XIV and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.Washington’s proposals involved Ukraine surrendering land that Russia has not captured — the entire industrial Donbas region — in return for security promises that fall short of Kyiv’s aspirations to join NATO.Zelensky on Monday said Washington’s 28-point plan had been revised to 20 points after US-Ukraine talks at the weekend.He said the land issue and international security guarantees were two of the main sticking points.”Do we envision ceding territories? We have no legal right to do so, under Ukrainian law, our constitution and international law. And we don’t have any moral right either,” Zelensky said.”The key is to know what our partners will be ready to do in the event of new aggression by Russia. At the moment, we have not received any answer to this question,” he said.During a televised event on Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin called Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region Russia’s “historical territory”.”This territory is important; it is our historical territory, absolutely,” he said.- Trump criticises Europe -Trump has blown hot and cold on Ukraine since returning to office in January, initially chastising Zelensky for not being grateful for US support.But he was also frustrated that efforts to persuade Putin to end the war had failed to produce results, and he recently slapped new sanctions on Russian oil firms.European allies have expressed solidarity with Ukraine.In the Politico interview, Trump criticised Europe’s role, saying: “They talk but they don’t produce.”Pope Leo XIV said after meeting Zelensky that “The remarks that are made about Europe also in interviews recently, I think, are trying to break apart what I think needs to be a very important alliance today and in the future.”The US pope also warned that “seeking a peace agreement without including Europe in the discussions, let’s say, is unrealistic.””The war is in Europe, and I think that Europe must be part of the guarantees we are seeking for security today and in the future. Unfortunately, not everyone understands this,” he said.

President Donald Trump blasted Europe as “decaying” and “weak” on immigration and Ukraine in an interview published Tuesday, deepening a rift between the United States and some of its oldest allies.Speaking to Politico, Trump also called on war-battered Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to hold elections despite Russia’s invasion and said that Moscow had the “upper hand.”Trump’s comments doubled down on extraordinary criticism of top US partners in his administration’s new national security strategy last week, which recycled far-right tropes about civilizational “erasure” in Europe.”Most European nations, they’re decaying,” Trump told Politico in the interview, conducted Monday.The 79-year-old billionaire, whose political rise to power was built on inflammatory language about migrants, said that Europe’s policies on migrants were a “disaster.””They want to be politically correct, and it makes them weak. That’s what makes them weak,” Trump said, adding that there were “some real stupid ones” among Europe’s leaders.Trump also criticized European nations over Ukraine, amid growing differences over a US plan to end the war that many in Europe fear will force Kyiv to hand over territory to Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of the country in 2022.”NATO calls me daddy,” Trump said, referring to comments by the military alliance’s leader Mark Rutte at a summit in June when leaders backed Trump’s call to raise defense spending.But he added: “They talk but they don’t produce. And the war just keeps going on and on.”European leaders have been trying to woo Trump since his return to office in January, especially on maintaining US support for Ukraine against Russia.Trump’s interview will intensify the alarm in European capitals sparked by the US security strategy last week, with its calls for “cultivating resistance” in Europe on migration and warnings of so-called “civilizational erasure.”Experts have said parts of it echo elements of the “great replacement theory” promoted by the far-right — and Trump’s former ally Elon Musk — which alleges a conspiracy to replace white populations.- ‘Not a democracy anymore’ -In contrast to the savaging of close US allies, Russia and China got off relatively lightly in the US strategy. The Kremlin said the US document aligned with its own worldview.A French minister, Alice Rufo, said Tuesday that the US security strategy was an “extremely brutal clarification of the ideological stance of the United States.”In his Politico interview, Trump said countries including Britain, France, Germany, Poland and Sweden were being “destroyed” by migration.He also launched a new attack on “horrible, vicious, disgusting” Sadiq Khan, London’s first Muslim mayor. Khan told Politico that Trump was “obsessed” with him and said US citizens were “flocking” to live in London.Trump also had sharp words for Ukraine and for Zelensky, in his latest seesaw in relations with the leader whom he called a “dictator without elections” in January and then berated in the Oval Office in February.”I think it’s an important time to hold an election. They’re using war not to hold an election.” Trump said. “It gets to a point where it’s not a democracy anymore.”Elections in Ukraine were due in March 2024 but have been postponed under the imposition of martial law since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. About 20 percent of the country is under occupation.Fresh elections were included in the draft US plan to end the war. He also reiterated claims about Zelensky having not read the US plan. “It would be nice if he would read it. You know, a lot of people are dying,” Trump said.Top US negotiators met Putin in Moscow last week, then held days of negotiations with Ukrainian officials, but there has been no apparent breakthrough.Zelensky said on Tuesday in response to Trump’s comments that he was “ready for the elections” if security was ensured.He said he hoped to send Ukraine’s updated version of the US plan on Wednesday.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday he was ready to hold new elections in Ukraine, and that he expected to send Washington within a day revised proposals on ending the nearly four-year war with Russia.US President Donald Trump is pressuring Kyiv to accept a deal formulated by Washington, the initial version of which was criticised by Ukraine’s allies as overly favourable to Russia.”We are working today (Tuesday) and will continue tomorrow (Wednesday). I think we will hand it over tomorrow,” Zelensky told reporters after shuttling between European capitals to hammer out a response with allies.Trump, who earlier accused Zelensky of not reading the latest US proposals, said Russia had the “upper hand” in the conflict, in an interview with Politico published on Tuesday.He also accused Kyiv of “using war” to avoid elections, which have been postponed under the imposition of martial law since Russia invaded its neighbour.”You know, they talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it’s not a democracy anymore,” Trump said.Ukrainian law prohibits holding elections under martial law, without which a presidential ballot was to have taken place in March 2024.But on Tuesday, following Trump’s comments, Zelensky said he was ready to organise a new ballot.”I am ready for the elections,” Zelensky told journalists, adding that he is asking Ukrainian lawmakers to prepare “proposals regarding the possibility of amending the legislative foundations and the law on elections during martial law”.- ‘No legal right’ -Zelensky spent the past few days shuttling between European capitals to hammer out a response to the US plan. On Monday he held talks with European leaders in London and Brussels. On Tuesday, he went to Italy to meet Pope Leo XIV and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.Washington’s proposals involved Ukraine surrendering land that Russia has not captured — the entire industrial Donbas region — in return for security promises that fall short of Kyiv’s aspirations to join NATO.Zelensky on Monday said Washington’s 28-point plan had been revised to 20 points after US-Ukraine talks at the weekend.He said the land issue and international security guarantees were two of the main sticking points.”Do we envision ceding territories? We have no legal right to do so, under Ukrainian law, our constitution and international law. And we don’t have any moral right either,” Zelensky said.”The key is to know what our partners will be ready to do in the event of new aggression by Russia. At the moment, we have not received any answer to this question,” he said.During a televised event on Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin called Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region Russia’s “historical territory”.”This territory is important; it is our historical territory, absolutely,” he said.- Trump criticises Europe -Trump has blown hot and cold on Ukraine since returning to office in January, initially chastising Zelensky for not being grateful for US support.But he was also frustrated that efforts to persuade Putin to end the war had failed to produce results, and he recently slapped new sanctions on Russian oil firms.European allies have expressed solidarity with Ukraine.In the Politico interview, Trump criticised Europe’s role, saying: “They talk but they don’t produce.”Meloni, who positions herself as a bridge between Trump and Europe, has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, although one of her coalition allies, Matteo Salvini’s League party, is more sceptical of aid for Kyiv.Italy has sent weapons to Ukraine, but only for targets inside the country. Meloni has also ruled out sending troops in a possible monitoring force proposed by Britain and France.The Italian government last week postponed a decision on renewing military aid to Ukraine, with the current authorisation due to end on December 31. Salvini has reportedly questioned whether it is necessary in light of current talks.However, Meloni at the time insisted that “as long as there’s a war, we’ll do what we can, as we’ve always done to help Ukraine defend itself”.

Human rights group FairSquare has filed a complaint to FIFA’s ethics committee claiming the world football body’s president Gianni Infantino breached his duty of neutrality by supporting US President Donald Trump.Infantino awarded Trump FIFA’s inaugural peace prize during the December 6 draw for the 2026 World Cup to be played in the United States, Canada and Mexico in June and July. FairSquare also called FIFA’s governance structure “absurd”, and claimed the organisation’s behaviour was against the common interests of the global football community, in a complaint filed on Monday.”This complaint is about a lot more than Infantino’s support for President Donald Trump’s political agenda,” FairSquare’s programme director Nicholas McGeehan said. “More broadly this is about how FIFA’s absurd governance structure has allowed Gianni Infantino to openly flout the organisation’s rules and act in ways that are both dangerous and directly contrary to the interests of the world’s most popular sport.”FairSquare’s complaint said awarding the peace prize to a “sitting political figure is in and of itself a clear breach” of article 15 of FIFA’s own code of ethics. They also requested the ethics committee investigate Infantino’s part in the “processes that led to the creation of the FIFA Peace Prize”, and the decision to award it to Trump. Furthermore, the NGO highlighted Infantino’s plea in October for Trump to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and said the Swiss made statements on three other occasions favourable to Trump’s political agenda.Contacted by AFP, FIFA confirmed they had received the complaint but made no further comment.

US President Donald Trump deepened his rift with Europe in an interview published Tuesday, calling it “decaying” and blasting key allies as “weak” over immigration and Ukraine.Speaking to Politico, Trump also called on Ukraine to hold elections despite Russia’s invasion and questioned whether the country is truly democratic under President Volodmyr Zelensky.Trump doubled down on his recent extraordinary criticisms of Europe, following the release of the new US national security strategy last week that recycled far-right tropes as it warned of civilizational decline on the continent.”Most European nations, they’re, they’re decaying. They’re decaying,” Trump told Politico in the interview, conducted Monday.The 79-year-old billionaire, whose political rise to power was built on inflammatory language about migration, echoed far-right talking points as he said that Europe’s policies on migrants were a “disaster.””They don’t want to send them back to where they came from,” Trump said.The Trump administration’s strategy sparked alarm in Europe — where most countries are part of the US-led NATO alliance — by calling for the cultivation of “resistance” in the EU.Asked if European countries would not remain US allies if they failed to embrace his migration policies, Trump replied that “it depends.””I think they’re weak, but they also want to be so politically correct,” Trump said.He listed countries including Britain, France, Germany, Poland and Sweden that he said were being “destroyed” by migration, and launched a new attack on the “horrible, vicious, disgusting” Sadiq Khan, London’s first Muslim mayor.Trump also brushed off the Kremlin hailing the new US strategy as echoing its own views, saying Putin “would like to see a weak Europe, and to be honest with you, he’s getting that. That has nothing to do with me.”The US president then criticized Europe’s role in resolving the war between Russia and Ukraine, saying: “They talk but they don’t produce. And the war just keeps going on and on.”- ‘Not a democracy anymore’ -Washington and its European allies are increasingly at odds over Trump’s plan to end the war, which many European capitals fear will force Kyiv to hand over territory to Moscow.Trump also had sharp words for Ukraine and for Zelensky, in his latest see-saw in relations with the leader whom he called a “dictator without elections” in January and then berated in the Oval Office in February.”I think it’s an important time to hold an election. They’re using war not to hold an election.” Trump said. “You know, they talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it’s not a democracy anymore.”Elections in Ukraine were due in March 2024 but have been postponed under the imposition of martial law since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Fresh elections were included in the draft US plan to end the war. Trump, who has long tried to cultivate close relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, asserted that Moscow has the “upper hand” in the conflict by virtue of being “much bigger.”He also reiterated claims about Zelensky having not read the US plan. “It would be nice if he would read it. You know, a lot of people are dying,” Trump said.Top US negotiators met Putin in Moscow last week and then held days of negotiations with Ukrainian officials, but there has been no apparent breakthrough.Trump even hinted at walking away from the Ukraine war. Asked about his son Don Jr.’s recent comment that he could soon do so, Trump said: “No, it’s not correct. But it’s not exactly wrong.”His comments came as Ukraine’s European allies expressed solidarity with Kyiv in London on Monday, with Zelensky maintaining Ukraine has “no right” to cede the territories claimed by Moscow to Russia.

The EU announced Tuesday it had opened a probe to assess whether Google breached antitrust rules by using content put online by media and other publishers to train and provide AI services without appropriate compensation.The European Commission said the investigation would look into concerns that the US tech giant might be distorting competition by imposing unfair terms and conditions on publishers and content creators, or by granting itself privileged access to their output.”A free and democratic society depends on diverse media, open access to information, and a vibrant creative landscape,” the European Union’s competition chief, Teresa Ribera, said. “AI is bringing remarkable innovation and many benefits for people and businesses across Europe, but this progress cannot come at the expense of the principles at the heart of our societies”. The commission, the European Union’s antitrust regulator, said the probe would focus on two issues. It would look into whether Google used YouTube videos to train its generative AI models without adequately paying the creators who post the clips online — and without offering them the possibility to refuse such use of their content.”Google does not remunerate YouTube content creators for their content, nor does (it) allow them to upload their content on YouTube without allowing Google to use such data,” the commission said. “At the same time, rival developers of AI models are barred by YouTube policies from using YouTube content to train their own AI models.”The probe would also check whether the firm used online content from other sites, such as newspaper websites, to provide generative AI-powered services, again with no compensation or possibility to opt-out. This relates in particular to Google’s AI-generated summaries that pop-up in response to a user’s search query and to the firm’s “AI Mode” — a search tab similar to a chatbot which answers users’ questions, the commission said. “We are investigating whether Google may have imposed unfair terms and conditions on publishers and content creators, while placing rival AI models developers at a disadvantage, in breach of EU competition rules,” Ribera said.There is no deadline for the commission to complete its investigation and the opening of a probe does not prejudge its outcome. The company, however, risks a hefty fine.

President Donald Trump said Monday he had reached an agreement with President Xi Jinping to allow US chip giant Nvidia to export advanced artificial intelligence chips to China.The announcement marked a significant shift in US export policy for advanced AI chips, which Joe Biden’s administration had heavily restricted over national security concerns about Chinese military applications.Democrats in Congress quickly dismissed the shift as a huge mistake that will help the Chinese military and economy.In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he had informed Xi that Washington would permit Nvidia to ship its H200 products to “approved customers in China, and other countries, under conditions that allow for continued strong National Security.””President Xi responded positively! $25% will be paid to the United States of America,” Trump wrote, without providing details on how the payment mechanism would work.Trump criticized his predecessor’s approach, saying it “forced our Great Companies to spend BILLIONS OF DOLLARS building ‘degraded’ products that nobody wanted, a terrible idea that slowed Innovation, and hurt the American Worker.”This referred to the Biden administration’s requirement for chip companies to create modified, less powerful versions specifically for the Chinese market.These chips had reduced capabilities — lower processing speeds, for example — to comply with export control regulations.Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun did not directly confirm the agreement when asked, but said that “China has always advocated for mutual benefit and win-win outcomes through cooperation between China and the United States.”- Not Blackwell -Under Biden-era restrictions, the H200 and similar advanced chips were blocked from export to China.”We applaud President Trump’s decision to allow America’s chip industry to compete to support high paying jobs and manufacturing in America,” an Nvidia spokesperson told AFP.”Offering H200 to approved commercial customers, vetted by the Department of Commerce, strikes a thoughtful balance that is great for America.”Trump emphasized that Nvidia’s most advanced chips — the Blackwell series and forthcoming Rubin processors — are not included in the agreement and remain available only to US customers.The H200s are roughly 18 months behind the company’s state-of-the-art offerings.The chips — graphic processing units or GPUs — are used to train the AI models that are the bedrock of the generative AI revolution launched with the release of ChatGPT in 2022.The Commerce Department is finalizing implementation details, with Trump saying “the same approach will apply to AMD, Intel, and other GREAT American Companies.”- AI race -The announcement comes as Washington and Beijing compete for dominance in artificial intelligence technology.Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang lobbied the White House intensely to reverse the Biden-era policy despite considerable opposition in Washington to giving Chinese companies access to powerful chips.Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, attributed the deal to a “backroom meeting” with Trump and Huang’s company’s donation to build the East Wing ballroom at the White House.She and other senior Democrats in the Senate issued a separate statement calling Trump’s decision “a colossal economic and national security failure.””Access to these chips would give China’s military transformational technology to make its weapons more lethal, carry out more effective cyberattacks against American businesses and critical infrastructure and strengthen their economic and manufacturing sector,” the lawmakers said.Trump’s post came the same day the US Justice Department announced the arrests of two Chinese businessmen in connection to an alleged scheme to smuggle Nvidia H100 and H200 chips from the US to China. It is unclear whether the agreement will impact the case.Alex Stapp, of the Washington-based Institute for Progress, called the policy a “massive own goal,” with the H200 “6x more powerful than the H20, which was previously the most powerful chip approved for export.”Zhang Yi, founder of Chinese tech research firm iiMedia, said that having Nvidia AI GPUs on the market was unlikely to reverse Beijing’s push to develop its own advanced chips.”Instead, it will actually force its acceleration,” with a 25-percent US charge increasing costs for Chinese companies, which already hold concerns over supply chain security, he told AFP.

US President Donald Trump heads to Pennsylvania on Tuesday in a bid to quell growing anger among Americans about the cost of living.Trump will return to the campaign-style rallies that brought him a second term in the White House as he pushes his message that he is cutting inflation.The 79-year-old has angrily rejected what he calls the Democrats’ “hoax” on the issue of affordability, but polls show that his approval ratings have slumped on the economy.The Republican billionaire also faces dissent from within his “Make America Great Again” movement, with calls for him to focus on the economy instead of foreign peace deals.Trump will “discuss how he and the administration continue to focus on delivering on his day one priority of ending Joe Biden’s inflation crisis,” a White House official told AFP.He will speak at the Mount Airy Casino resort in Pocono, Pennsylvania, US media said. Before becoming president Trump ran a number of casinos — several of which went bankrupt.The Republican insists prices are falling for key goods like beef, eggs and coffee, and he is fixing what he describes as a mess left by Biden, his Democratic predecessor.But this week he showed signs of softening his message a little on Monday, acknowledging an affordability “problem” after dismissing it as recently as last week as a “con job.””The Democrats caused the affordability problem and we’re fixing it,” he said.Trump’s approval ratings have slumped to their lowest point since his return to office in January, particularly over the cost of living, which Americans have blamed at least partly on his tariffs.US inflation accelerated in September to 2.8 percent on an annual basis.- ‘America First’ -The issue has caused a rift within the MAGA movement. Former close ally Marjorie Taylor Greene, who broke with Trump in November, said Trump had failed to focus on affordability.”For an ‘America First’ president, the number one focus should have been domestic policy, and it wasn’t,” Greene told the CBS News show “60 Minutes” in an interview that aired Sunday.Democrats meanwhile campaigned on affordability in elections that they swept last month for New York City mayor, and for the governors of New Jersey and Virginia.Blue-collar Pennsylvania is a key stop on the road to the White House. Trump narrowly won the northeastern state in 2016 and 2024, and lost it by a sliver to Biden in 2020.Trump is ineligible to run again in 2028 despite hints that he might try — but he is deeply focused on the 2026 midterm elections, in which affordability could hit Republicans.Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles told the Daily Caller she would “put him on the campaign trail” next year to get out loyal voters who might otherwise stay away from the polls.That would mark a major break from the past years when when US parties have often tried to keep their distance from often unpopular incumbent presidents in the midterms.Trump has also focused on other groups affected by his economic policies.A day ahead of his speech, Trump announced $12 billion in aid to US farmers who have also been hit by the impacts of his tariff and trade policy.”We love our farmers, and as you know the farmers like me,” Trump said at the White House, describing them as the “backbone” of the country.

At a Christmas market outside the US capital, festive cheer alone hasn’t been enough to drive affordability worries out of shoppers’ minds — as American households contend with creeping inflation this holiday season.”Prices are terrible. It makes it difficult to shop for a lot of your friends and family,” said James Doffermyre, a high school teacher.The 37-year-old was among visitors at the market in Gaithersburg — a Maryland suburb of Washington — browsing stalls selling everything from greeting cards to decorations.”We always have a big Christmas, and we get one or two gifts for everybody,” he told AFP.But this year, he added, “we said all the adults were okay, (let’s) just buy things for the kids.”His plans underscore the affordability pressures that American households are facing, with dissatisfaction mounting over costs of living.- ‘Problem’ -In particular, Democrats notched victories in off-year elections last month, fueled by voters being disgruntled about rising prices.Republican President Donald Trump too has acknowledged an affordability “problem” recently, after repeatedly dismissing it as a “hoax” and a “con job” by rival Democrats.While Trump’s wide-ranging tariffs this year have not sparked a broad surge in consumer inflation, companies have noted steeper business costs, with some opting to pass them on by raising prices.Inflation has edged higher, with the consumer price index rising 3.0 percent on an annual basis in September, up from 2.9 percent in August.Doffermyre, who has a six-month-old child, said he had been limiting his spending with fewer trips to restaurants.Another shopper, 73-year-old special education teacher Karen Jenkins, called grocery prices “outrageous.””We give food to a lot of students,” she said. “They’re always hungry because they don’t get any food at home.”For her part, she is buying less and cutting down on going out for shows.- ‘Make things work’ -Consumers were also frustrated by high prices in 2022, towards the tail end of the Covid-19 pandemic, economist Joanne Hsu recalled.But back then, “consumers were willing to spend through it because labor markets were very strong and they felt very confident about their income,” said Hsu, the director of a monthly survey of consumers at the University of Michigan.”This time is a very different situation,” she said.Pastry chef Olivia McPherson, 30, noted that prices have been rising during the past three years: “It’s been getting worse and worse.”She said that she rents from a friend because she cannot afford her own apartment, and buys less meat to cut costs.”I’m lucky enough to work at a place where I get meals provided for me,” McPherson added.But this year, she might not be able to buy gifts for all of her friends.”I would never ask them to get me a gift as well, just because I know everybody’s feeling it,” she added.Some, like 23-year-old machine operator Oscar, work two jobs to make ends meet.”If you work hard enough, you can get by,” he said, declining to share his last name.”But I feel like the prices aren’t going down any soon,” he added. “You just gotta make things work.”

The expansion of data centers to power the AI boom has more people wondering: what exactly is in a data center?AFP got a chance to take a look at what is inside.- Concrete warehouse -Data centers are the physical infrastructure that make our digital lives possible, yet most people have never seen one up close or understand how they operate.Roughly 12,000 data centers are in operation in the world, with about half in the US, according to Cloudscene, a data center directory.At its most basic, a data center is a concrete warehouse filled with thousands of computer servers working in tandem. Traditional facilities span one or two floors divided into vast rooms, though newer ones rise higher.A facility may serve a single company or be shared by several clients.The servers sit in standardized 19-inch (48 cm) racks — essentially metal closets lined up in rows.A large data center can house tens of thousands of servers running simultaneously, generating enormous heat and consuming significant energy for both power and cooling.High-speed networking equipment — switches, routers, and fiber optic cables — connects everything, moving terabytes of data per second.- Stay close -Having a data center close to end users improves speed, which is critical for things like trading and gaming where immediacy is paramount.Ashburn, Virginia, which has the highest concentration of data centers in the world, offers ideal conditions as it is located only about 30 miles from the US capital, Washington.However, building in densely populated areas costs more and faces local resistance. Companies increasingly turn to rural locations where land is cheaper and zoning less restrictive.But distance adds to loading times — that brief delay when a page loads or a feed refreshes.To balance cost and performance, operators typically house core infrastructure — or the training of AI models — in affordable rural regions while keeping equipment that handles time-sensitive requests closer to urban centers.- Stay Cool -Inside these bunker-like buildings, a single server rack generates as much heat as several household ovens running nonstop. Cooling consumes roughly 40 percent of a data center’s total energy.The most advanced chips — GPUs (graphics processing units) used for AI — can reach temperatures exceeding 90°C, threatening performance and causing permanent damage during extended operation. They are also much heavier than lower performing chips.Traditional facilities use computer room air conditioners with heat blasting out of mounted vents on on rooftops – but this is not fit for GPUs that mainly turn to water for cooling.Modern facilities are beginning to deploy “free cooling” that uses outside air when temperatures allow, and different water-based approaches: liquid cooling systems that pump coolant directly to components or evaporative cooling that works like perspiration on skin.Today massive amounts of water are still required for direct and indirect cooling in data centers. In 2014, US data centers used 21.2 billion liters of water, and that number rose to 66 billion liters in 2023, according to federal estimates.- Where’s the power? -Power supply — and the high voltage transmission lines needed to source it — is key for a data center and is only growing with facilities that run the powerful GPUs. “One of the biggest challenges for a lot of our customers is they buy the chips and then they don’t know where to go,” Chris Sharp, Chief Technology Officer at Digital Realty, which operates data centers around the world, told AFP.The big tech giants, caught up in the AI arms race, have spent tens of billions of dollars in just months towards building suitable structures for GPUs.Operators rely on the existing power grid but are increasingly seeking to secure their own resources — called “behind-the-meter” — for greater security and to limit rate increases for all users. Solar panels or gas turbines are sometimes installed, and many are also awaiting the arrival of the first small modular reactors (SMRs), a nuclear energy technology currently under development. Most data centers have to run 24/7 and every critical system has backups in case of power outages. This can come through massive battery banks or diesel generators. The best facilities guarantee power 99.995 percent of the time.