Putting data centers on ships in international waters would be just as effective at evading government control (i.e. not very) while being orders of magnitude easier and cheaper to build and operate.

▲

bouncycastle an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Recently the USA blew out some some boats in international waters and came back to finish off the survivors, despite thin evidence and no due process, while maintaining that it was legal. If those data centers on ships ever become declared as a 'threat to national security' then they might get the same treatment.

	▲	collinmcnulty an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I think GP's point is that an advanced nation-state could just as easily shoot down an orbiting data center as an oceanic data center and that "international space" offers an equally flimsy defense as "international waters" but a much larger price.
	▲	gpm an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		This would be equally true in space.

▲

echelon 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

They've always been able to do this.

Microsoft was talking about submarine data centers powered by tidal forces in the early 2000s.

There have been talks of data centers on Sealand-like nation states.

Geothermal ...

Exotic data center builds will always be hyped. Always be within the realm of feasibility when cost is no object, but probably outside of practicality or need.

Next it'll be fusion-powered data centers.

	▲	cwal37 32 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Commonwealth Fusion Systems called dibs on next last year by saying they’re gonna have a Dominion (Virginia) commercial site up and running in the early 2030s. https://cfs.energy/news-and-media/commonwealth-fusion-system...