however, a "data centre" is a long term investment. the companies need to ask themselves a serious question: how long do they expect these things to be in operation for?
five years? 10 years? 50 years?
their natural gas, coal (god forbid) or oil powered data centre won't last 10 years. the market won't let it. it's a poor investment decision that will lead to a catastrophic loss in the medium term and might even put a few companies out of business, as consumer demand hones in on this concern, and market preferences over power.
these ai firms aren't competing over a lot. their products are basically the same. costs are not substantively different. something they can be cave men about and compete over is energy sources.
as a consumer, a good ad from an ai company that sources from 100% renewable energy would certainly win me over, to the extent i would use this shit (which is not much to not at all).
you make your own bed, and at the end of the day you have to sleep in it. some of these firms are going to make bad decisions, power their ai centres with oil or gas and wake up dead.