DataDecisionMakers Author
Sophie Bakalar is a partner at Collaborative Fund, leading the firm’s venture investments in the climate space, including Collab SOS, a $225M Series A and B fund fueling a more sustainable economy across materials, ingredients, energy and supply chains.
In the age of AI, public utilities are now facing a new, unexpected problem: Phantom data centers. On the surface, it may seem absurd: Why (and how) would anyone fabricate something as complex as a data center? But as AI demand skyrockets along with the need for more compute power, speculation around data center development is creating chaos, particularly in areas like Northern Virginia, the data center capital of the world. In this evolving landscape, utilities are being bombarded with power requests from real estate developers who may or may not actually build the infrastructure they claim.