California Cracks Down on Water Theft but Spares Data Centers From Disclosing How Much They Use

Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed legislation that would have required data centers to report how much water they use.

New data centers have been rapidly proliferating in California and other western states as the rise of artificial intelligence and growing investments in cloud computing drive a construction boom. The centers, full of equipment, generate lots of heat and can use large quantities of water to cool their servers and interiors. Many companies don’t reveal how much they use.