‘A lot of red flags’: plans for New Zealand’s first datacentre spark concern as locals demand greater transparency

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/10/new-zealand-first-datacentre-concern-locals-makarewa-invercargill-datagrid

144 points · 12 comments · view on lemmy.world

12 Comments

Zephyr@sh.itjust.works · 9 pts · 38d (6 replies)

Its a tough situation for a lot of people. Many want to keep as much of their data on sovereign land and not utilize foreign infrastructure. Simultaneously for multiple reasons people don't want to build infrastructure.

Rothe@piefed.social · 6 pts · 37d (1 reply)

It is a foreign owned AI datacenter though. It has no reason to exist.

Zephyr@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 37d

I imagine NZ has something similar to sovereign domain if they ever so desire to use it. Data centers are famously not portable.

liuther9@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 38d (1 reply)

Then why no transparency? It is obviously not social data center but capitalism data center. Do not play devils advocate

Zephyr@sh.itjust.works · -3 pts · 38d

Likely because the answers they want are unfriendly. If ever the nation decided it wanted it's data to stay on sovereign soil its better to have that ability than to not have it even one wanted it.

Substance_P@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 38d (1 reply)

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Zephyr@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 38d

I can see your message in my notifications. I think it was a good response.

FoxAlive@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 38d

Thought the billionairs who build their doomsday bunkers there would be apposed to poisoning their own sacred land.

I guess they still need data centers after civilization, or data centers are so unpopular that they have to consider having them in their own back yard.

JigglySackles@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 34d

Don't do it NZ! The fellowship of the ring and the rest of middle earth didn't go through everything it did just for you to invite the Dark Lord back!

ramble81@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 38d (3 replies)

I have quite a few thoughts about this. If you use the internet, where do you think your web pages and content are served from? It’s a Datacenter (private or cloud, both Datacenters). If you’re going to consume it, you should also be prepared to have the infrastructure as part of your life too. I’m not talking that you need to live right next to the DC, but within the country isn’t that much of a stretch (especially with how small NZ is).

Now that being said. If it’s a regular DC (private or cloud) that’s fine, but if it’s an AI DC, fuck it sideways with a cactus and get that shit out of there. We don’t need more AI and it just needs to go away.

Edit: to anyone downvoting me, please tell me where you think that the people of New Zealand should get their (non-AI) content from and who should support the infrastructure for it?

tae_glas@slrpnk.net · 12 pts · 38d (2 replies)

i'm afraid it's specifically an ai data centre 😮‍💨

People living near the site of Aotearoa's first planned AI datacentre are calling for more transparency about the project, especially about how the centre’s huge electricity and water use and potential noise pollution could affect them.

Singapore-based company Datagrid has secured approval to build a NZ$3.5bn (US$2bn) AI datacentre on a 49-hectare site in Makarewa, just north of Aotearoa's southern-most city, Invercargill. Construction is due to begin this year, with the centre becoming operational by 2028.

Datagrid has approval to discharge air contaminants from up to 84 diesel back-up generators, to draw up to 604,800 litres of groundwater per day, discharge up to 5000 litres of treated wastewater a day and remove a nearby wetland, an Environment Southland regional council reports show.

ramble81@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 38d

Nope…. Fuck it…. Burn it down.

mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 38d

Having a local, general-use data center to host local websites and services would have been useful. But if it's just for AI then yeah it's a dumb idea