Simply whenever you thought the AI knowledge middle increase couldn’t get any crazier, Meta has gone and constructed knowledge facilities in tents. The technique seems to borrow in equal elements from Tesla and xAI.
In a bid to chop development time in half, Meta has constructed six tents — or “speedy deployment constructions” as the corporate describes them — outdoors of New Albany, Ohio, in accordance with Michael Thomas, founding father of Cleanview, which tracks knowledge middle deployments.
Thomas’ findings aren’t completely new. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke to the Information final yr about his plan to make use of weatherproof tents to deal with the corporate’s multi-gigawatt knowledge facilities.
However Thomas’ photographs and overview of native permits showcase the velocity of development and scale of the challenge. In keeping with metropolis permits reviewed by Thomas, Meta began constructing 5 125,000-square-foot tents between April and June. The satellite tv for pc photographs he shared in his put up on X present the constructions have all been constructed.
Using tents is harking back to these Tesla constructed within the parking zone of its Fremont, California manufacturing unit when it was speeding to roll out the Mannequin 3. The location can also be powered by 200 megawatts of modular gas turbines close by, a tactic popularized by competitor xAI.
Contained in the tents, AI chips, probably value billions of {dollars}, will go about their enterprise.
The tents have sprung up as Meta has struggled to launch its AI fashions to builders. A current report within the Wall Road Journal discovered that Meta’s newest mannequin, Muse Spark, is full, however the APIs that builders depend on to entry it have been repeatedly delayed.
Meta has stated it intends to spend as much as $145 billion on knowledge facilities and different capital expenditures. Wall Road hasn’t preferred the sound of that, with Meta’s inventory buying and selling down 5% this yr. Placing AI chips in tents is one method to trim the invoice.
TechCrunch has reached out to Meta for remark and can replace this text if it responds.
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