Data center development has never moved faster.

Demand for AI capacity is climbing steeply, and with it comes real opportunity for the places that host these facilities: investment, jobs and tax revenue that fund local services.

It has also brought a wave of public concern, about AI itself and about what the next generation of data centers means for the communities around them. Some of that concern is well-founded. Much of it rests on misconceptions that have gone unchallenged for too long.

Data Centers Decoded takes an honest look at both.

We acknowledge what communities are right to question, separate it from what’s misunderstood, and set out the evidence, so residents, officials, developers and operators can have a better-informed conversation.