Acquire power infrastructure company and produce directly
The Google logo seen on a building in downtown London. AP Newsis
[파이낸셜뉴스] Google is internalizing power production by acquiring the energy infrastructure company Intersect with an astronomical sum of approximately 7 trillion won. There is analysis that big tech companies are moving away from purchasing and using electricity and are entering a phase of ‘vertical energy integration’ where they directly own and operate power plants.
According to the IT industry on the 29th, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, recently signed a final agreement to acquire Intersect, a co-location company that builds a data center and solar and natural gas power plants on the same site, for $4.75 billion (about 6.86 trillion won). The transaction will be finalized in the first half of next year.
As a result, Google has secured an energy pipeline worth approximately $15 billion (approximately 21.67 trillion won), including the acquisition of Intersect and a multi-gigawatt (GW) class project under construction in Haskell County, Texas.
Google’s acquisition is believed to be aimed at reducing dependence on external power grids and becoming self-sufficient in the power needed for artificial intelligence (AI) innovation.
In addition, it appears that the existing power grid alone would not be able to handle the surge in demand for AI data centers and computing.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Goldman Sachs, Bain & Company, etc. have warned of a ‘power bottleneck’ phenomenon in which AI servers cannot run due to lack of electricity.
“The acquisition of Intersect will accelerate data center capacity expansion and drive America’s AI leadership,” said Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
whywani@fnnews.com Reporter Hong Chae-wan
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