Meta Platforms Inc. forecasts the need for a data centre “the size of Manhattan Island” to accommodate the engineering of 20,000 young technicians who will lead the way to the fearful new era of superior artificial intelligence. This and successors will be located in the USA wherever the requisite huge amounts of energy and water are available; most probably in States with a GDP which will be dwarfed by the productivity of the digital colossus.

The data centres which are projected for Portugal may not be so gigantic but their impact on national and regional economies will astound. Their advent is being heralded by a well-paid bevy of lobbyists, influencers, professional politicians and other acolytes of Big Tech who ecstatically forecast a contribution of up to €26 billion to the national GDP by year 2030.

It is also claimed that “around 50,000 full-time jobs” will be created but without qualifying this by stating that the mammoth buildings and machinery will be largely maintained by robots created and controlled by the superior form of AI which will emerge from the data collated by the digital engines. To be sure, the external services of well-remunerated young technocrats will be essential. Google, Meta, Amazon and other masters of the New Global Order are currently in a frenzy of recruitment for a limited number of “shooting stars” and digital nomads most of whom are of North American or Far Eastern nationality.

Data centres are the strategic assets of corporate entities which are almost entirely of U.S or Chinese origin. The interests and priorities of their stakeholders are not focused on those of the EU which is regarded largely as the nest in which to place the cyber cuckoo.

Great care should be exercised at the Atlantic Convergence Conference, due in Lisbon from 28 to 30 October, to ensure that the sovereign security and economic well-being of Portugal and the EU are well-represented and protected from predators.

by Roberto Cavaleiro - Tomar