An inflection point, but more trickle-down than direct impact

Indeed, noted Jeremy Roberts, senior director for research and content at Info-Tech Research Group, the moratorium is an “inflection point” and a “way to placate an increasingly angry public,”. People don’t like the fact that, beyond the initial build, data centers don’t create many jobs, they take up a lot of space, they use a significant amount of power and resources, and they can be “noisy and smelly. ” However, the impact of the moratorium is likely going to be “macro” for everyday enterprises, as New York is specifically targeting hyperscale data centers. “If you were planning on building a data center in New York and your name is not [Microsoft CEO] Satya Nadella, it’s probably not going to affect you,” said Roberts. But the consequences of the move will certainly trickle down, for instance, with AI device or hardware purchases supplanting software acquisition.

Roberts pointed to IBM’s history-making stock plunge this week, which the company attributed to enterprise buyers diverting IT budgets away from software and mainframes to stockpile AI hardware like servers and memory chips to get ahead of anticipated supply issues and price increases. If enterprises plan to invest in anything that uses storage or CPUs, they will be paying more in the future, Roberts said. “It’s a symptom of a problem you’re going to feel. ” That said, constraints usually inspire innovation; if a hyperscaler can’t build a 50MW data center, it will likely find ways to string together smaller data centers or adapt in other ways. This could “percolate” across the industry, Roberts said.

“People are endlessly creative. ” This article originally appeared on NetworkWorld.