Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>When literally hundreds of platforms, public and private, generate transactional data, their storage and processing is of critical importance—and in this sense, data centres play an extraordinarily important role in the functioning and valuation of data capitalism. The significance of the role played by data centres is linked to data becoming the fuel of digital capitalism. It introduces readers to the politics and geopolitics of data centres, their vulnerabilities and impact on the environment, and the data centre activism that is emerging in different parts of the world. It explores the gaps between vaunted ambition and on-the-ground realities, deals with the attempts to localise an industry that is thoroughly global, and examines the tenor of data centre activism and resistance against a multi-billion dollar industry that is globally recognised as critical infrastructure, a status that shields it from any meaningful public scrutiny.</jats:p>