The complex corporate web behind a $3.2 billion AI data center
The complex corporate web behind a $3.2 billion AI data center
价值32亿美元的AI数据中心背后：错综复杂的企业网络
In early June, a fire broke out in a still-unfinished building at the Lake Mariner data center in Somerset, New York, exposing just how little the local fire department knew about what it was walking into. Firefighters reportedly found no working alarm, no suppression system, and three dead hydrants; the safety documents they’re legally entitled to see reportedly burned up in the blaze.
6月初，纽约州萨默塞特（Somerset）的Lake Mariner数据中心一栋尚未完工的建筑发生火灾，这暴露了当地消防部门对该设施的了解程度竟如此之低。据报道，消防员在现场发现没有工作的警报器、没有灭火系统，且三个消防栓均无法出水；而他们依法有权查阅的安全文件据称也在火灾中烧毁了。
Steve Matisz, chief of the Barker Fire Department, said his crew went into the building “kind of blind,” facing heavy black smoke from chemicals they couldn’t identify because the safety sheets meant to inform them had apparently burned up. “It’s been a difficult situation,” Matisz said. He wasn’t sure what to think about the claim that the safety sheets had burned in the fire.
巴克（Barker）消防局局长史蒂夫·马蒂兹（Steve Matisz）表示，他的队员进入大楼时“几乎是盲目的”，面对着浓重的黑烟，却无法识别其中的化学物质，因为本应告知他们相关信息的安全数据表显然已经烧毁了。“这情况非常棘手，”马蒂兹说。对于安全数据表在火灾中烧毁的说法，他表示存疑。
The site is a former coal mine on Lake Ontario. The $3.2 billion campus is one of the largest AI data center buildouts in New York, and it has many stakeholders. A company called TeraWulf owns and operates the data center on land it leases from a company owned by its own CEO; Fluidstack, a UK-based AI company, will run the center; Google holds warrants for a future 14 percent equity stake and has agreed to guarantee Fluidstack’s lease payments; and Anthropic is among the AI companies whose compute demand the facility exists to serve.
该选址位于安大略湖畔，曾是一座煤矿。这个耗资32亿美元的园区是纽约州最大的AI数据中心建设项目之一，涉及多个利益相关方。一家名为TeraWulf的公司拥有并运营该数据中心，其租用的土地归其CEO名下的另一家公司所有；总部位于英国的AI公司Fluidstack将负责运营该中心；谷歌持有未来14%股权的认股权证，并同意为Fluidstack的租金支付提供担保；而Anthropic则是该设施旨在满足其计算需求的多家AI公司之一。
TeraWulf eventually told me that it was responsible “for operational safety and emergency preparedness at the Lake Mariner Data Campus, including required safety systems and coordinating with local first responders.” Kerri Langlais, the company’s chief strategy officer, added that the company had implemented Knox boxes, additional hydrants, and safety data sheet “go-bags” following an after-action review with the county.
TeraWulf最终向我表示，公司负责“Lake Mariner数据园区的运营安全和应急准备，包括必要的安全系统以及与当地应急响应人员的协调工作。”该公司首席战略官克里·朗格莱斯（Kerri Langlais）补充说，在与县政府进行事后评估后，公司已安装了Knox箱（紧急钥匙箱）、增设了消防栓，并配备了安全数据表“应急包”。
When I reached Matisz in mid-August, he said that a Knox box representative had visited the site and had a meeting scheduled to build out that program. On hydrants, he was more direct: “As far as I know, [they] are still dry… I haven’t seen work done on them.” The fire did little to slow construction at the site, and no one was hurt in the blaze.
当我在8月中旬联系马蒂兹时，他说Knox箱的代表已经访问了现场，并计划召开会议以推进该项目。关于消防栓，他的态度更为直接：“据我所知，它们仍然无法出水……我没看到有人在那上面施工。”这场火灾几乎没有减缓该工地的建设进度，也没有人在火灾中受伤。
But the Lake Mariner situation offers a glimpse into a system that is increasingly common across the AI buildout boom, one where responsibility itself is diffuse: legal responsibility for the next fire or safety failure, operational responsibility for what actually gets built and run, financial responsibility for keeping the project afloat, and reputational responsibility for its strain on the grid and water supply. When a data center’s energy use, environmental footprint, or safety record draws scrutiny, assigning responsibility may be surprisingly murky.
然而，Lake Mariner的情况揭示了AI建设热潮中日益普遍的一种体制，即责任本身是分散的：下一次火灾或安全事故的法律责任、实际建设和运营的操作责任、维持项目运转的财务责任，以及因其对电网和供水造成压力而产生的声誉责任。当数据中心的能源使用、环境足迹或安全记录受到审查时，责任的归属往往会变得异常模糊。
How many jobs? / 到底创造了多少就业岗位？
For instance, Somerset wanted more answers from TeraWulf after the fire, but the company’s communications team has remained unresponsive to community requests for a meeting, including from Jeffrey Dewart, the Somerset town supervisor. At town board meetings, residents have raised pointed questions about what the town is actually receiving in return for hosting one of the state’s largest AI data center buildouts.
例如，火灾发生后，萨默塞特镇希望从TeraWulf那里得到更多答复，但该公司的公关团队对社区提出的会面请求一直未予回应，其中包括萨默塞特镇主管杰弗里·杜瓦特（Jeffrey Dewart）的请求。在镇议会会议上，居民们提出了尖锐的问题：作为该州最大的AI数据中心建设项目的所在地，该镇到底获得了什么回报？
According to a 2024 planning board presentation, TeraWulf’s project manager said the full buildout would bring employment to between 35 and 40 people at a facility drawing up to 500 megawatts. This was only a fraction of the 165 permanent jobs and $85 million in capital investment promised in 2019, when Somerset Operating Company, the landlord entity owned by TeraWulf CEO Paul Prager, applied for the site’s power discount under the same project scope. Prager did not respond to a request for comment on the discrepancy.
根据2024年规划委员会的一份演示文稿，TeraWulf的项目经理表示，该设施在全面建成后（耗电量高达500兆瓦）将提供35到40个就业岗位。这与2019年承诺的165个长期就业岗位和8500万美元资本投资相比，仅是九牛一毛。当时，由TeraWulf首席执行官保罗·普拉格（Paul Prager）拥有的房东实体Somerset Operating Company，正是以同样的工程范围申请了该选址的电费折扣。普拉格未回应关于这一差异的置评请求。
The New York Power Authority (NYPA) reviews compliance annually and can adjust the site’s benefits if the commitment isn’t met. New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who last month placed a moratorium on hyperscaler data center development, has acknowledged the gap between big promises and few jobs. “Despite the scale of these projects and the utility demands, data centers do not deliver significant, long-term jobs,” she told reporters in July, adding that she’s “challenging the industry to do it in a smarter way.”
纽约州电力局（NYPA）每年都会审查合规情况，如果承诺未兑现，可以调整该项目的优惠待遇。纽约州州长凯西·霍楚尔（Kathy Hochul）上个月对超大规模数据中心开发实施了暂停令，她承认了宏大承诺与微薄就业之间的差距。她在7月告诉记者：“尽管这些项目规模巨大且对公用事业需求很高，但数据中心并不能提供大量长期的就业岗位。”她补充说，她正在“挑战该行业，要求其以更聪明的方式发展。”
“You have to be honest that it’s 600 people building the project for six, 12, 18 months, depending on how big it is,” said Pilar Thomas, a former deputy solicitor at the Department of the Interior and former deputy director of the Office of Indian Energy, who now teaches Tribal energy law. “And then after that it’s three guys and a bottle of Windex… unless there’s a commitment to train up people in the local communities to take on the operations and maintenance of these data centers, which I have yet to see a data center agree to do.”
“你必须诚实地承认，根据项目规模，会有600人在6个月、12个月或18个月内进行建设，”曾任美国内政部副律师、印第安能源办公室副主任，现教授部落能源法的皮拉尔·托马斯（Pilar Thomas）说。“在那之后，就只剩下三个人和一瓶玻璃清洁剂了……除非有承诺去培训当地社区的人员来承担这些数据中心的运营和维护工作，但我还没见过有哪家数据中心同意这样做。”
Costs and noise / 成本与噪音
When a data center adds hundreds of megawatts of near-constant demand, the costs don’t always stay with the company that caused them. “When you have a really big load, especially if it’s 24/7, 365, the whole system gets more expensive,” said Leah Stokes, a political scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who studies utility and clean energy policy. Those costs, which range from managing grid constraints to running expensive backup power plants during peak demand, get socialized across everyone’s electricity bill, whether or not they ever benefit from the facility creating them.
当一个数据中心增加数百兆瓦近乎恒定的电力需求时，成本并不总是由造成这些需求的公司承担。“当你有一个非常大的负荷，特别是24/7、全年无休的负荷时，整个系统的成本就会变得更高，”加州大学圣塔芭芭拉分校研究公用事业和清洁能源政策的政治学家莉亚·斯托克斯（Leah Stokes）说。这些成本——从管理电网限制到在高峰需求期间运行昂贵的备用发电厂——会被分摊到每个人的电费账单中，无论他们是否从该设施中受益。
To address some of these concerns, in February 2026, Anthropic published a commitment to cover electricity price increases that consumers face from its data centers, including 100 percent of grid infrastructure costs and procuring new power generation to match its energy needs. Lake Mariner is covered under that covenant. But the pledge only covers electricity pricing; it says nothing about whether other promises—on noise and clean energy, for instance—are being kept. A source familiar with Anthropic’s thinking confirmed that Lake Mariner falls under the company’s direct ra…
为了解决其中一些担忧，Anthropic在2026年2月发布了一项承诺，将承担消费者因其数据中心而面临的电价上涨，包括100%的电网基础设施成本，并采购新的发电量以满足其能源需求。Lake Mariner包含在该协议范围内。但这一承诺仅涵盖电价；对于其他承诺（例如噪音和清洁能源）是否得到遵守，则只字未提。一位熟悉Anthropic想法的消息人士证实，Lake Mariner属于该公司直接……