Seattle is close to approving a year-long ban on large data centers
Key takeaways
- The mayor is expected to sign the moratorium soon.
- SNEHIT PHOTO/Shutterstock The Seattle City Council has unanimously approved a moratorium on the construction of new large AI data centers for one year.
- Seattle's greater metropolitan area serves as home to Microsoft, while Amazon's headquarters is in the city itself.
The mayor is expected to sign the moratorium soon.
SNEHIT PHOTO/Shutterstock The Seattle City Council has unanimously approved a moratorium on the construction of new large AI data centers for one year. Mayor Katie Wilson has yet to sign it, but according to the Seattle Times, she was looking forward to doing so. Wilson had vocally supported a ban after the Times reported back in April that five large data center project proposals in the city would consume up to a third of Seattle's current demand for electricity. The city's residents also raised concerns about the centers' potential water usage and noise pollution.
Seattle's greater metropolitan area serves as home to Microsoft, while Amazon's headquarters is in the city itself. Google and Meta have offices in the city, as well. As GeekWire notes, however, the tech giants don't actually operate data centers within Seattle, so the moratorium will mostly affect developers and providers.