It's very impractical to put anything in Antarctica. The continent is very far from any place where substantial numbers of people live. The northern hemisphere has much more habitation in the arctic and sub-arctic areas. Moreover, the northern hemisphere in general is wealthier and more populous than southern, so it makes sense to put data centers to the North.
Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost part of South America, lies at 55°S. There's nobody living further to the south than that. Very few people live even at 50°S.
55°N lies Copenhagen, Newcastle upon Tyne, Moscow, Kazan and Chelyabinsk. Cities like Glasgow, Oslo, Gothenburg, Stockholm, Kaliningrad, Helsinki, Tallinn and St. Petersburg are further to the north. Population gets more sparse north of 60°N (I think about 20-25 million people live north of that, a quarter of them Finns) but even when you are looking for cool surroundings, it makes sense to put data centers in places where you have people and infrastructure like stable energy and connectivity.
Ars Technica did a good article on this very thing. While the cooling is nice in some aspects, down there it's a bit too much, as components become brittle and easily damaged at temperatures that low. Static electricity is a larger concern with air that dry. (moisture is frozen out, and Antarctica is literally a desert.) Not the place to simply set your PC outside and go for the overclocking record.
Comments
It's very impractical to put anything in Antarctica. The continent is very far from any place where substantial numbers of people live. The northern hemisphere has much more habitation in the arctic and sub-arctic areas. Moreover, the northern hemisphere in general is wealthier and more populous than southern, so it makes sense to put data centers to the North.
Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost part of South America, lies at 55°S. There's nobody living further to the south than that. Very few people live even at 50°S.
55°N lies Copenhagen, Newcastle upon Tyne, Moscow, Kazan and Chelyabinsk. Cities like Glasgow, Oslo, Gothenburg, Stockholm, Kaliningrad, Helsinki, Tallinn and St. Petersburg are further to the north. Population gets more sparse north of 60°N (I think about 20-25 million people live north of that, a quarter of them Finns) but even when you are looking for cool surroundings, it makes sense to put data centers in places where you have people and infrastructure like stable energy and connectivity.
Ars Technica did a good article on this very thing. While the cooling is nice in some aspects, down there it's a bit too much, as components become brittle and easily damaged at temperatures that low. Static electricity is a larger concern with air that dry. (moisture is frozen out, and Antarctica is literally a desert.) Not the place to simply set your PC outside and go for the overclocking record.
http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/04/coolest-jobs-in-tech...
That as well. You don't think of it that way, but the place is arid.