The head of Alphabet and Google, Sundar Pichai, confirmed that the company is designing data centers that consume more than 1 GW. According to Datacenter Dynamics and other sources, Pichai believes small modular reactors (SMRs) could be a possible source of power for data centers.
However, the businessman himself, speaking at the Pittsburgh campus of Carnegie Mellon University, did not say whether the company plans to use any SMR. At the same time, he mentioned that Google was one of the first companies to set the goal of achieving round-the-clock provision of “green” energy to data centers by 2030. According to him, this was before the AI boom and now the IT giant is working on much larger data centers.
According to him, two years ago it was impossible to even imagine that such projects would be considered at all. In the short term this may cause a number of difficulties. However, Pichai did not say whether the upcoming changes mean that the company will not be able to achieve its goal by 2030. It has been previously reported that many hyperscalers are unlikely to achieve the promised results.
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In March, it was reported that Google was forming a team to develop a new “carbon-free” strategy in light of soaring demand for electricity. Pichai has now stressed that this will not be a problem in the medium to long term as large investments in new green sources are planned. He also referred to Google’s project in Nevada, where the company obtains energy from geothermal sources.
According to him, large amounts of money are being spent on the development and construction of small modular reactors. Pichai said as he looks at the flow of capital and innovation being used to create new energy, he remains optimistic about the energy supply outlook.
Pichai’s comments come against the backdrop of major nuclear announcements. Oracle founder Larry Ellison said the company intends to build a 1 GW data center campus with three SMRs. Microsoft will “revive” the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant; it will be used exclusively to power the company’s data centers. Finally, last week it was reported that AWS was hiring a chief engineer for the team that will work on SMR and other nuclear energy projects.