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Data center
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Aerial view of the Google data center complex in Eemshaven, The Netherlands, showing several large white-roofed buildings surrounded by fields, canals, and wind turbines. Headline reading Data Centers for artificial intelligence are massive calculating machines. How do they do what they do? appears on a black background with a stylized page curl effect. Demonstrators on the steps of the Utah State Capitol hold large signs reading No Data Centers during a protest against the proposed Stratos data center. Modern data center in Middenmeer, Netherlands, with fenced cooling equipment and exhaust stacks beside a canal. Facebook data center in Eagle Mountain, Utah, with snow-capped Flat Top mountains rising behind the fenced gray facility.
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Aerial view of the Google data center complex in Eemshaven, The Netherlands, showing several large white-roofed buildings surrounded by fields, canals, and wind turbines.
Google data center Aerial view of a Google data center complex in Eemshaven, Netherlands.

Data center

Also known as: data centre
Written by
Laura Payne
Laura Payne is a freelance writer whose work covers many topics. She is a former Wayne State University linguistics instructor.
Laura Payne
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
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Data center, a room, building, or group of buildings used to host, manage, and run information technology (IT) infrastructure that enables the delivery of applications, data, and services. A data center’s key IT components include servers, storage systems, and network equipment, such as routers, switches, and firewalls. Because large data centers are essential for the processing, storage, and distribution of high volumes of data, they have become indispensable to the development and growth of generative...

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