Buzzkill: How bees reportedly stung Meta’s nuclear plans for AI data centre.
Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp has been catching up with like OpenAI, Google and Perplexity in the AI space. However, the company’s plan to build a nuclear power plant to power its AI data centre may have been thwarted because of a rare bee species.
Reportedly, Meta was in the process of finalising a deal with the existing nuclear power plant operator to build a new data centre to power its ongoing and upcoming artificial intelligence projects. But according to the Financial Times, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told staff members that in a meeting the deal fell through after a rare bee species was found inhabiting the land where the power plant was to be built.
The report also suggests that Zuckerberg said that pushing through the deal wasn’t possible as they would have to face numerous environmental regulatory challenges. While the publication did not hint if Meta is looking for a new site to build its AI data centre, the company might still be looking for other places or emission-free sources of energy to meet its increasing AI computing and power requirements.
However, Meta is not the only tech giant looking to build nuclear power plants for its AI ambitions. Last month, Google’s parent company Alphabet signed a deal with Kairos to buy six to seven small reactors, which will provide the tech giant with 500 megawatts of energy.
Earlier this year, Microsoft also signed a deal with Constellation Energy to restart a unit of the now shutdown Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania, which happens to be the site of the worst nuclear accident in the history of the United States.
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Buzzkill: How bees reportedly stung Meta’s nuclear plans for AI data centre. source
