The AI race is already taking a toll. Ireland’s massive data centers are a cautionary tale

Fears of rolling blackouts led Ireland’s grid operator to halt new data centers near Dublin until 2028.

Dozens of massive data centers humming at the outskirts of Dublin are consuming more electricity than all of the urban homes in Ireland and starting to wear out the warm welcome that brought them here.

Now, a country that made itself a computing factory for Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok is wondering whether it was all worth it as tech giants look around the world...