A rare species of bees prevented Mark Zuckerberg from building a nuclear data center

Mark Zuckerberg faces an unexpected obstacle in the competition to create infrastructure for artificial intelligence — a rare species of bee that lives at the site of the potential construction of the nuclear-powered Meta data center.

According to Financial Times Mark Zuckerberg told employees that the previously selected area for the construction of the data center is no longer suitable for the company because a rare species of bees lives there.

In Meta have not yet provided official comments on the change in plans, but it should be noted that the company also faced environmental and regulatory hurdles in the construction deal. But it seems that it was the bees that finally put an end to Zuckerberg’s dream

The publication, unfortunately, did not provide data on the construction site and did not name the name of the power plant operator with whom the deal was planned, but notes that Zuckerberg considered his plans as an opportunity to makeMeta is the first company «with nuclear artificial intelligence» in Big Tech.

In the latest financial report, Meta’s CEO emphasized that he expects infrastructure spending to accelerate significantly in 2025» — particularly in terms of AI. The company’s biggest competitors — Google, Amazon, and Microsoft — are considering similar plans and are already investing billions in data centers to power the needs of artificial intelligence.

Here’s what we know so far:

• In March, Bloomberg wrote that Amazon plans to spend about $150 billion and deploy up to 240 data centers by 2040. In October, the companyhas signed three agreements «to support the development of nuclear power projects», which include the construction of several small modular reactors (SMRs)
• In October, Google announced that signed «the world’s first corporate nuclear power purchase agreement» from SMRdeveloped by the California-based Kairos Power.
• In September, Microsoft and Constellation Energy — the owner of most US power plants — announced a 20-year agreement that provides for restart of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania.

At the same time, the boom in the construction of data centers for AI is accompanied by not only high financial but also environmental costs. Thus, McKinsey’s analysis noted that by 2040, data centers will consume 35 gigawatts of electricity per year (against 17 gigawatts in 2022).