● Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech’s Data Empires
Paris Marx
Review via CNET
There is no stronger metaphor for the manifestation of Big Tech’s power than the increasing sprawl of data centers. Amazon, Microsoft and Google alone control 59% of hyperscale data center capacity. In his new book available now, Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech’s Data Empires, Marx, host of the Tech Won’t Save Us podcast, highlights how global data center protests are one of many ways that communities are pushing back against Big Tech’s power over us…. Before, a large data center might require around 50 megawatts of power to keep everything running. Now, hyperscale data centers can require triple that amount of power. Newer ones, like Meta’s Louisiana data center, may require 4,500 megawatts (4.5 gigawatts) — staggering demand that officials say is four times more than all of the electricity used in New Orleans on its hottest day in 2025. It’s more than the two gigawatts the Hoover Dam produces.