Nvidia wants to repurpose over 130 old telco buildings as tiny data centers, report claims
Brightspeed has over 130 facilities located across the U.S., with Nvidia estimating that they could produce up to 1GW of compute capacity.
Nvidia is reportedly discussing the possibility of transforming approximately 130 old telecommunications buildings owned by Brightspeed into compact data centers, according to a report from The Information. The tech giant approached Apollo Global Management, Brightspeed's parent company, which subsequently requested Nvidia to submit detailed plans. Nvidia has since sought additional data and site visits for Brightspeed's existing infrastructure.
These telecommunications buildings are strategically located across the country and are already equipped to handle data and voice traffic, along with the necessary power infrastructure to support Nvidia servers. The companies estimate that these sites could collectively generate around 1 gigawatt of compute capacity, which would house over 2,200 Supermicro Vera Rubin NVL72 racks, each equipped with 72 GPUs and 36 CPUs.
However, while the sites can already power these GPUs, Nvidia would still need to install cooling systems and other supporting architecture. The process would require permits and approval from local authorities, although they may encounter less opposition compared to constructing a data center from scratch. Apollo Global Management has already invested significantly in AI hardware, including a $40 billion deal with SpaceX for around 360,000 Vera Rubin GPUs across 5,000 NVL72 racks.
The proposal could potentially enable Apollo to quickly utilize Nvidia chips they have ordered, avoiding the lengthy approval process for a new data center. This approach is similar to what OpenAI and Anthropic have been considering as they face delays and backlash from communities regarding larger data centers. Smaller, decentralized data centers could also serve as an "inference network" to run existing AI models more efficiently.
The trend of repurposing existing facilities for data centers has gained new attention, particularly following the significant opposition to data center development during the U.S. midterm elections. Despite over 300 bans enacted across the country, only three projects were delayed, highlighting the challenges of constructing new data centers and securing the necessary compute capacity to power AI models in the future.
Written by urgent.news from Tom's Hardware's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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