Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, gave a talk about a data center that would use “the same amount of water as a restaurant.”
#1 Reason it’s bullshit: he says “next generation data centers.” This is not happening today, full stop. It’s a pipe dream.
More reasons why it’s bullshit:
Shifting the Burden to Electricity: If you don’t use water to cool supercomputers, you have to use massive, electricity-hogging chillers and fans. That electricity comes from the power grid, and regional power plants consume millions of gallons of water to generate that extra energy. It’s a shell game.
- The ‘One-Time Fill’ Lie: They claim a ‘closed-loop’ system uses almost no daily water. But filling a massive industrial cooling system the first time takes millions of gallons. Saying it uses ‘zero water’ because you only fill it once is like saying a water park uses zero water after opening day.
- Shifting the Burden to Electricity: If you don’t use water to cool supercomputers, you have to use massive, electricity-hogging chillers and fans. That electricity comes from the power grid, and regional power plants consume millions of gallons of water to generate that extra energy. It’s a shell game.
- Future Promises vs. Current Reality: This ‘restaurant’ stat applies to experimental, next-gen vertical builds. Right now, actual operational AI data centers are draining local watersheds and causing massive community backlash.
Business Insider did a nice piece about the backlash. https://www.businessinsider.com/data-center-backlash-microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-reassure-communities-2026-6