AI has come for Arizona’s water
A hulking gray giant rises from the desert. Inside, engineers create the force behind our phones and computers and appliances, our streaming services and search engines and chatbots and vibe-coded apps and websites. The complex is simultaneously massive and squat, dwarfed by the mountains that surround it, and it is endless. I drive past one […]
In Arizona's desert, a massive gray structure emerges, housing the heart of modern technology - microchips. The sprawling industrial park is home to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world's leading chip producer. It operates nearly 5 million gallons of water daily, which is all sourced from Phoenix's municipal supply.
This development was a gamble to revive Arizona's economy after the Great Recession, and now it stands as a symbol of progress, despite facing opposition from locals concerned about water consumption and other resources.
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