As technology advances, demand for natural resources like water and minerals that power semiconductors and data processing centers is growing, too. According to a 2025 report from the World Economic Forum, semiconductors and data centers now consume 1.5 trillion liters of water per year. To help address this growing competition for water, researchers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University created an artificial intelligence tool that analyzes data from agriculture, hydrology, climate and industry to estimate the impact of new production facilities, agricultural practices and policy on a region’s water system.
In a recent news release from the university, Feras Batarseh, associate professor of engineering and lead researcher on the project, said municipal water systems in dry places like Arizona, California and Texas could be stretched thin by new demands from semiconductor manufacturing, impacting farmers and communities who rely on the same basins.
“You have state water, you have basins, and then you have economic regions and the geographic scope of federal jurisdiction, all of which impact each other,” he said in a public statement.
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