Tech giants vie to build data centers in Minnesota to support their growing AI networks

<p>Tech companies are looking to the land of 10,000 lakes as a suitable environment to expand their data footprint.</p><br/><p>About 10 tech giants, such as Microsoft and Meta, are vying to build data centers in Minnesota to support their growing AI networks. </p><br/><p>“The Midwest is kind of a big emerging market right now,” said Nick Halter, a Twin Cities reporter for Axios. “That's because we have abundant water, which oftentimes is used to cool these [centers] down, and also because we have much cooler temperatures.”</p><br/><p>That’s because data centers in cooler climates require less energy to cool their facilities than those in warm Southern states. </p><br/><p>Some tech companies are also targeting Minnesota because of the state’s renewable energy mandates, Halter said. </p><br/><p>“The big question here is: How can we get to a place where we have 100 percent renewable energy in Minnesota, which is our goal, while the 10 proposed [data centers] would be the equivalent of t...