By Quentin Shores, KRTV
A growing national desire for faster processing power has brought data centers to the forefront—and the topic has reached Great Falls.
Data centers contain vast networks of computers, servers, and storage systems. However, researchers say that the rate at which they’re being built has accelerated in the last year as a result of breakthroughs in computer chips and AI.
“Data centers are not something that’s new,” said Anne Hedges, executive director of the Montana Environmental Information Center. “But in the last year, we have seen this enormous increase because of the chips, because of the ability to compute much faster.”
These concerns and possibilities were central to a recent community conference in Great Falls, which drew a large gathering of residents, lawmakers, advocates, and civic leaders eager to learn about the possible impact of data center growth on the region.
