The Cloud on the Ground: Data Centers, AI, and the Fight Over Hidden Infrastructure

This timeline traces the rise of data centers from modest 2000s office-park facilities to the million-square-foot hyperscale campuses powering AI, and the resulting conflicts over land, water, energy, and local consent. It covers how cloud computing and the AI boom turned obscure industrial buildings into contested infrastructure, and how companies have responded with secrecy, camouflage, and biomimicry to defuse opposition. This timeline was generated automatically by TimeStrands AI from Wikipedia research. Facts are sourced; framing may be imperfect.