Many say the trend, playing out worldwide, is unsustainable. Microsoft, a major data center operator, says 42% of the water it consumed in 2023 came from “areas with water stress.” Google, which has among the largest data center footprints, said this year that 15% of its freshwater withdrawals came from areas with “high water scarcity.”

Why can’t data centers recycle water in a closed-loop system? Many do, but much of what they consume is set aside for humidity control, meaning it evaporates. Especially in drier regions, air that’s not humidified can become a strong conductor of static electricity, which is usually bad news for computers.