A recent article on BBC News highlighted the growing importance of data centres in the UK,  revealing that they are set to be classified as a critical national infrastructure. This is a big deal since critical national infrastructures currently include emergency services, finance and healthcare systems, and energy and water supplies. Gaining this status means that data centres will receive a high level of government support during major incidents to minimise disruption to the public. 

This recognition comes at a time of considerable investments in the development of data centres in the UK. For example, Amazon Web Services recently announced plans to invest £8 billion into building and operating data centres in the UK over the next five years, while Microsoft and Google are also currently in the process of building UK-based facilities. 

The Challenges of Scaling Data Centres

However, even with such a high level of investment, data centres still face some considerable challenges. One of the biggest issues is the vast amounts of copper wiring needed to run these centres (amounting to trillions of miles of cables!). The increasing demand we are now seeing means that global supplies of copper and metals can’t keep up. Moreover, data centres consume huge amounts of energy, with both Meta and Alphabet having superseded their CO₂ limits on account of emissions from data centres using AI. So, while data centres are increasingly essential, they also raise significant environmental concerns. 

CNTs as a Solution to Improve Data Centre Sustainability

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) could offer a potential solution to both of these challenges. CNTs have high electrical conductivity, which means that CNT wires could replace copper wires in data centres. TrimTabs has patented methods for producing CNT wires, which could help solve the copper supply issue. Even better, we produce CNTs in a circular fashion by transforming waste plastic into high-quality CNTs. We also plan to recirculate our emissions into CNTs, making us a 100% emission-free producer of CNTs and helping to overcome the sustainability issues posed by data centres. 

We are excited to see how CNTs contribute to the future of critical data centres in the UK and globally! Check out the full BBC News article by clicking the link below.

Full article link.

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