The No. 1 Most Iconic Technology of 2025: Data Centers
By HARD Fork | December 2, 2025
In a recent episode of Hard Fork, technology journalists Casey Newton and Kevin Roose took on the formidable task of ranking the 50 most iconic technologies of 2025. Their clear consensus for the most influential technology of the year? Data centers.
Powering the Modern World
At first glance, data centers may not inspire the same excitement as emerging gadgets or flashy inventions. However, these vast, often nondescript buildings are the silent workhorses behind the era’s most transformative advancements—especially in artificial intelligence. As Casey Newton explained, data centers are the backbone powering the AI revolution. Prior to their critical role in AI, data centers primarily supported cloud computing services.
Essentially, data centers house supercomputers that handle massive computational loads, underpinning an increasing slice of modern life from social media and streaming to finance and healthcare. Their importance is so great that it is almost impossible to narrate the story of technological progress in 2025 without highlighting these facilities.
An Infrastructure Giant
Kevin Roose highlighted the immense scale of data center investments in the United States and their global economic impact. Much of the equipment used in these centers is imported, benefiting manufacturers overseas. Thanks to significant spending from tech companies on domestic data center construction, other countries have simultaneously seen economic gains.
Roose and Newton also pointed out the paradoxical nature of these centers. While crucial, data centers are typically constructed in rural or less-populated areas due to their size and infrastructure needs, meaning urban dwellers—especially those in coastal cities—rarely encounter them. This rural spread has made data centers one of the largest infrastructure projects America has ever undertaken, both in terms of size and investment.
The AI Bubble Question
The rapid proliferation of data centers has fueled discussions around a potential “AI bubble.” Data centers are not only expensive to build but also require significant labor and energy resources to operate. The massive expansion raises questions about sustainability and longevity—how long can this growth continue? Are current investments in data centers a sign of overreach or a solid foundation for future innovation?
Energy Demands and Challenges
The discussion does not end with construction costs. Kevin Roose and Casey Newton also emphasized the staggering energy requirements these data centers demand to power the millions of GPUs (graphics processing units) necessary for AI workloads. OpenAI and other major players in the AI space have secured deals with numerous chip manufacturers, including AMD and Nvidia, aiming to construct what has been described as a $1 trillion GPU empire over coming years.
However, acquiring chips is only part of the story. The ability to reliably access the enormous amounts of energy needed to run these facilities is an ongoing challenge and topic of concern. Tech companies are concurrently racing to secure energy resources to meet these power demands.
User Experience and AI Agents
Complementing their infrastructure discussion, the hosts shared personal insights into new AI tools, such as ChatGPT’s evolving capabilities, including “agent mode” tasks. Though promising as technical feats, some AI-powered processes like booking airplane tickets were reported to be slower or less aligned with user preferences compared to manual methods. Nevertheless, these experiments underscore the growing integration of AI into daily digital interactions—made possible by the data center infrastructure.
In sum, data centers represent not just an underrated component but the very foundation of the technological landscape in 2025. Their sheer scale, economic influence, and critical role in powering AI advancements have cemented their status as the year’s most iconic technology.
More from Hard Fork:
- Trump Coin: The No. 2 Most Iconic Technology of 2025
- How Will Starcloud Build Data Centers in Space?
- Will Humanoid Robots Soon Be Common in Homes?
Published by The New York Times Company, 2025
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