The Guardian (October 25)
“The biggest owner of datacentres in the world, Amazon dwarfs competitors Microsoft and Google and is planning a huge increase in capacity as part of a push into artificial intelligence.” This has raised “concerns over how much water is being used to cool their vast arrays of circuitry,” as well as “criticism over transparency. Microsoft and Google regularly publish figures for their water consumption, but Amazon has never publicly disclosed how much water its server farms consume.” Based on partial disclosure, Amazon consumes at least as much water “as 958,000 US households, which would make for a city bigger than San Francisco.”
Tags: AI, Amazon, Capacity, Competitors, Criticism, Datacentres, Google, Microsoft, Partial disclosure, San Francisco, Server farms, Transparency, Water consumption
Traders Magazine (April 30)
“As global financial markets face mounting volatility and exponential growth in data and message traffic, infrastructure resilience has become a cornerstone of stability. Global market infrastructure is facing unprecedented stress tests, not from system failures, but from the relentless pace of data and messaging traffic, regulatory complexity, and volatile geopolitical conditions.” Essentially, this “means building systems to handle two or even three times their previous peak volume—ensuring not only capacity but also continuity during high-stress events.”
Tags: Capacity, Continuity, Data, Exponential growth, Financial markets, Geopolitical, Global, Market infrastructure, Message traffic, Peak volume, Regulatory complexity, Resilience, Stability, Stress tests, System failures, Volatility
Wall Street Journal (January 10)
“Excess capacity among carmakers in China is driving the world’s largest auto market into a shakeout phase.” According to one estimate, domestic carmakers are using just half of their capacity. “Among the early losers are foreign brands. General Motors, Volkswagen and Toyota have been bleeding market share to homegrown rivals.” That said, it seems evident that as the shakeout phase continues, “local brands face a reckoning too.”
Tags: Auto market, Bleeding, Capacity, Carmakers, China, Domestic, Excess capacity, GM, Market share, Reckoning, Rivals, Shakeout phase, Toyota, Volkswagen
OilPrice.com (September 17)
“U.S. power-generating companies are announcing plans for the highest volume of new natural gas-fired capacity in years as the AI boom is driving demand for electricity…. The increase in gas-fired generation jeopardizes the current U.S. emissions and ‘clean grid’ goals.”
Tags: AI boom, Capacity, Clean grid, Demand, Electricity, Emissions, Generation, Highest, Jeopardizes, New. Natural gas-fired, Power-generating, U.S.
Fortune (March 23)
“Foreign businesses’ direct investment into China last year increased by the lowest amount since the early 1990s, underscoring Beijing’s challenges to spur its economy. It also has to contend with a steadily accelerating outflow of manufacturing as Apple and other American brands begin to position new capacity in countries from India to Southeast Asia to mitigate risks from US-China tensions.”
Tags: 1990s, Accelerating, Apple, Beijing, Brands, Capacity, Challenges, China, Economy, FDI, India, Investment, Manufacturing, Mitigate, Outflow, Risks, U.S.
The Guardian (January 11)
“Global renewable energy capacity grew by the fastest pace recorded in the last 20 years in 2023,” rising 50% to 510 GW and marking “the 22nd year in a row that renewable capacity additions set a new record.” The tremendous growth in 2023 “could put the world within reach of meeting a key climate target,” set at Cop28, “to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030.”
Tags: 2023, 2030, 510 GW, Capacity, Climate target, COP28, Fastest, Global, Growth, Record, Renewable energy, Rising
Reuters (June 24)
“A scramble for lithium” is creating “new risks for electric-car makers. Breathtaking prices are prompting the industry to find new ways to secure the crucial battery ingredient,” often through “direct contracts with miners and refiners” with “options to buy 100% or more of a project’s planned production capacity.” Although “vertical integration is tempting when times are tough,” it can leave buyers overstretched and “dealmaking under duress makes miscalculations more likely.”
Tags: Battery, Breathtaking, Buyers, Capacity, Dealmaking, Duress, EVs, Lithium, Miners, Overstretched, Prices, Production, Refiners, Risks, Scramble, Vertical integration
Reuters (December 2)
“The good news is that drugmakers are already increasing their manufacturing capacity, which should reduce vaccine hoarding.” Moderna, J&J, AstraZeneca and Pfizer “are expected to produce 12 billion doses between them next year, enough to give two jabs to 75% of the world’s population.” The bad news is “getting shots into arms is a bigger challenge. Many developing countries lack the trained staff to administer doses, or the kit and infrastructure to ship them in the right conditions.”
Tags: AstraZeneca, Capacity, Challenge, Developing countries, Drugmakers, Infrastructure, J&J, Moderna, Pfizer, Trained staff, Vaccine hoarding
San Francisco Chronicle (December 30)
“With hospitals across California at capacity and COVID-19 cases skyrocketing, the state has become the epicenter of the nation’s latest coronavirus surge despite aggressive measures to restrict movement and save hospital space.” On Monday, California hit a new record of 66,811 fresh cases. “As of Wednesday, California reported 99.3 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people over the past seven days, far exceeding all other states.”
Tags: Aggressive, California, Capacity, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Epicenter, Hospital space, Hospitals, Movement, Skyrocketing, Surge
Billboard (August 17)
The UK music scene “may soon be unrecognizable because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has plunged the U.K. economy into its worst recession on record.” While socially-distanced live music has resumed, under a third of venues can meet the requirements and most “would lose too much money on these reduced-capacity shows for it to be economically feasible.” Music Venue Trust, a charity which represents 670 grassroots venues, estimates that “more than 400 across the country are in crisis.”
Tags: Capacity, Coronavirus, Crisis, Feasible, Grassroots, Live music, Pandemic, Recession, Socially-distanced, UK, Unrecognizable, Venues
