The technopolitics of data centers in the age of AI: concepts, methodologies, and challenges

Book section : Chapter

Data centers are infrastructure facilities that house computing machines used to store data and process digital applications. They form the material backbone of contemporary digital societies, supporting economic activities such as cloud computing, e-commerce, social media, and financial and public policy services. Thousands of data centers operate worldwide, ranging from small facilities to hyperscale complexes owned by major technology firms. The growing importance of data centers has been further intensified by advances in artificial intelligence (AI), particularly the development of generative AI models. Training and operating these models require vast computational resources, which are concentrated in and fully dependent on data centers, reinforcing their political significance. At the same time, the global growth of data center development has heightened concerns about sustainability, resource consumption, environmental impact, and the uneven distribution of costs and benefits across geographies and communities. These shifts have brought attention to the technopolitics of data centers, understood as the ways in which technical design choices, governance arrangements, economic interests, and power relations shape how data centers are built, operated, and regulated. Often characterized by opacity, economic interests, geopolitical tensions, and technical complexities, data centers present challenges for public oversight and accountability. Studying data centers therefore raises methodological questions, while also offering opportunities and opening challenges for interdisciplinary research into the governance of digital infrastructure and the politics of data centers in the age of AI.

Authors: Valdivia, A; Anwar, M

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Host title: Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Society
• Publication date: 2026-08-28
• DOI: 10.1093/9780197852712.003.0066
• ISBN: 9780197852712
• Language: English
• Keywords: data center; technopolitics; artificial intelligence; media infrastructure; sustainability; geopolitics; data centre value chains; infrastructure; datafication
• Subtype: Chapter