Could Asheville be site of next big AI 'supercomputer' and data center?
A California computer chip maker said it plans to build one of nine artificial intelligence supercomputers in Asheville.
Cerebras Systems Inc. CEO Andrew Feldman has said the data center and supercomputer will be built in the first half of 2024, according to reporting by Bloomberg. The company has already built the first of the supercomputers for $100 million in its hometown of Santa Clara, California. Most of the capacity is expected to be used by the United Arab Emirates company G42.
Cerebras spokesperson Udai Mody declined Aug. 15 to give information on the Asheville site, saying "We haven’t publicly announced the Asheville location yet."
He also declined to give timeline specifics or talk about the number of employees.
Mody said the company would say more "once we have details."
The new Santa Clara supercomputer, Condor Galaxy 1, was finished by late July and expected to double in size in just a few weeks, the company has said. The next two systems, in Asheville and Austin, Texas, would come online early next year.
Cerebras has not been working with the Chamber of Commerce, according to Asheville-Buncombe Economic Development Coalition Executive Director Clark Duncan ― who would not talk about a specific project, per coalition policy, but said he was not assisting with a data center.
Such systems typically do not employ large workforces, Duncan said, though the coalition has done work with one before, helping with the establishment of what is now Dart Points data center in Biltmore Park.
Often spatial needs push data centers outside Asheville and Buncombe where the land can be expensive, Duncan said.
"A big land footprint, big power and big water use ― those tend to be the drivers for data center projects," he said.
Data centers are known to individually use millions of gallons of water annually, primarily for cooling. Asheville Water Services Director David Melton did not respond to questions about any usage concerns. The Asheville system's capacity is large, with its main source, the North Fork Treatment Plant, capable of putting out 31 million gallons daily.
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The planned nine supercomputer systems are part of an early push to provide the heavy-duty computing power required for AI services, Bloomberg reported.
Primary customer G42 is looking to use AI in areas such as aviation and health care. Any excess capacity will be offered to other customers.
A company description said G42 is championing AI "with almost limitless potential to enhance and improve people's abilities and lives." But the firm's leader has links to a company with allegedly less benevolent goals. CEO Peng Xiao once ran Pegasus, a subsidiary of the company DarkMatter. That company's software was linked to the tracking of journalist Jamal Khashoggi prior to his 2018 murder by agents of Saudi Arabia, reporting by the Washington Post said.
G42 has denied a connection with Pegasus. In a statement to the Citizen Times, Mody, the G42 spokesperson noted the Condor Galaxy 1 is located at the California headquarters and that "projects are vetted by Cerebras Systems."
More: Turkish court releases Black Mountain pastor, seeks U.S. help with Khashoggi murder.
Joel Burgess has lived in WNC for more than 20 years, covering politics, government and other news. He's written award-winning stories on topics ranging from gerrymandering to police use of force. Got a tip? Contact Burgess at jburgess@citizentimes.com, 828-713-1095 or on Twitter @AVLreporter. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville picked for AI 'supercomputer' and data center: Bloomberg
