Connect with us

Technology

Americans Aren’t Moving Toward Data Centers, Data Centers Are Coming to Them, Realtor.com® Report Finds

Published

on

New facilities are pushing into lower-density, lower-income communities farther from major cities, but home values near newly activated data centers have so far moved in line with similar neighborhoods

AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — A new report from Realtor.com® finds that the American home-sale market’s growing proximity to data centers is being driven by where the industry chooses to build, not by any behavioral shift among homebuyers. The share of U.S. home sales within five miles of a large (50-megawatt or larger) data center has more than doubled since 2018, rising from 0.67% to roughly 1.5% so far in 2026, as the number of large facilities operating nationwide grew more than sevenfold, from 49 to 347. Based on the full construction pipeline through 2027, that share is projected to approach 2.3% of all U.S. home sales.

The report, which draws on millions of home sales, listings and property tax records alongside facility-level data center insights from Aterio, also finds that the newest wave of large data centers is landing farther from cities, in less densely populated areas, and increasingly in communities with below-median household incomes — a reversal from the pattern that defined the early 2020s AI buildout.

“The data center buildout has moved fast and it is raising policy, community, and housing-market questions as it spreads and accelerates,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist, Realtor.com®. “Our analysis so far offers some reassurance: in the communities we studied, a new data center opening nearby wasn’t associated with meaningfully higher or lower home values than similar neighborhoods that didn’t get one. But the facilities coming online next are bigger, more remote and landing in communities with less experience managing an industrial neighbor, so that track record may not hold as a guide to what comes next.”

The Growth Is Geographic, Not Behavioral

To isolate what is driving more Americans to live near large data centers, the report models what would have happened had the data center industry stopped building in 2018. Under that scenario, the share of home sales near a large data center would sit at roughly 0.6% today, below where the market actually stands. The entire increase, in other words, traces back to facilities that didn’t exist in 2018 opening in new communities, not to more home-sale activity in neighborhoods that already had one. Housing stock turnover in ZIP codes near large data centers has tracked essentially the same as broader metro areas throughout the period, with the gap never exceeding 0.2 percentage points.

New Neighbors, Farther From the City

The physical footprint of the industry has expanded alongside its power footprint. In 2015, just 12 U.S. ZIP codes contained a large data center; by June 2026 that had grown to 108, and is on pace to reach 125 by year’s end. The land those facilities are built on looks increasingly different, too. The median large data center opening in 2026 is surrounded by roughly 70% fewer residential housing units per square mile than the median 2017 facility, and the typical 2027 opening will sit about 34 miles from its nearest major city center, 26% farther than the 2026 median of 27 miles.

Household income patterns near new data centers have shifted as well. ZIP codes receiving new large facilities ran well above the national median income from 2020 through 2023, peaking 24.7% above the median in 2023 as hyperscale investment concentrated in affluent Northern Virginia suburbs. Large data centers activated in 2026 sit in ZIP codes 2.1% below the national median income, and the 2027 construction pipeline points to communities 5.7% below the median.

“The places absorbing this next wave of data centers look different from the places that absorbed the last one,” said Glen Morgenstern, economist intern at Realtor.com®. “They tend to be lower-income, lower-density and farther from a city center, which usually also means fewer resources on hand — fewer attorneys, less organized civic engagement, and housing markets that react more slowly to new information. That doesn’t tell us those communities will be worse off, but it does mean they may be less equipped to respond if a facility turns out to be a difficult neighbor.”

Home Values Hold Steady, Listings Stay Plentiful

To test whether a large data center opening nearby affects home prices, the report compared 43 ZIP codes that gained a large data center between 2019 and 2025 against similar ZIP codes matched on pre-opening price levels and population density. In the two years following activation, home values in data center neighborhoods moved in line with their matched comparisons, with no gains or losses large enough to represent a meaningful difference. Listing prices showed a similar pattern: a small initial bump around the facility’s opening that faded within two years.

Housing inventory told a different story. Three years after a large data center opened, those ZIP codes retained 66% of their pre-opening active for-sale listings, compared with 43% for matched neighborhoods without a data center. New construction near data centers ran above the metro average in the years surrounding a facility’s opening but slipped slightly below that average by the third year.

Property tax rates near large data centers were lower than in comparison communities both before and after a facility’s arrival, a gap the report attributes to where data centers tend to be sited rather than to the facilities themselves. Effective residential tax rates near data centers ticked up modestly relative to their own pre-opening baseline over five years, while the comparison group’s rates drifted down relative to theirs — though the report cautions that county- and jurisdiction-level differences make the cause of that pattern difficult to isolate.

 As Data Centers Grow, So Do Concerns Over Power and Water

The average large data center that opened in 2018 drew about 24 megawatts of power; by 2026 that figure had climbed to 60 megawatts, meaning more generators, more cooling infrastructure and more round-the-clock truck traffic per facility. Electricity and water use are also emerging as more visible pressure points, particularly in Sun Belt markets already navigating water scarcity, and rising utility bills tied to data center demand have already drawn public attention in states including Georgia and Virginia.

In March 2026, seven major AI companies signed a Ratepayer Protection Pledge committing to cover the cost of new power supply and grid infrastructure rather than pass it on to residential customers, a commitment that has since expanded to companies representing 80% of U.S. power delivery, though it remains voluntary. The Realtor.com® report points to these dynamics, along with the industry’s shift into lower-density, lower-income and more remote communities, as reasons the modest track record on home values documented so far may be harder to sustain as the buildout continues.

Large Data Center Openings and ZIP Household Income by Activation Year

Activation Year

New Large Data Centers

Median Data Center ZIP Income
vs. National Median

2020

24

+22.3 %

2021

22

+15.5 %

2022

20

+14.1 %

2023

34

+24.7 %

2024

58

+7.4 %

2025

83

+11.0 %

2026

178

-2.1 %

2027*

212

-5.7 %

*2027 reflects the construction pipeline. 2026 includes active and construction-stage sites with estimated 2026 activation dates. Recent incomes are based on 2024 American Community Survey estimates; each ZIP code is weighted equally regardless of population size.

Methodology

Data center inventory comes from Aterio’s facility-level database as of June 30, 2026, covering U.S. facilities with at least 50 megawatts of selected power capacity and a known ZIP code; the main analyses use active facilities only, while 2026 and 2027 community-income comparisons also include construction-stage facilities. Residential proximity is measured as the straight-line distance from each home sale or listing to the nearest large data center, using Aterio facility coordinates and Realtor.com deed and listing records; sales within five miles are classified as near. The home-price event study covers 43 ZIP codes that received a large data center between 2019 and 2025, matched to comparison ZIP codes on pre-activation price level and population density, drawn from the same metro area in most cases and from the broader state for five ZIP codes in smaller markets, using Realtor.com deed records in states that publicly disclose sale prices (Texas and 11 other non-disclosure states are excluded). The property tax event study compares effective residential tax rates within three miles of a large data center against properties 10 to 25 miles away in the same state, using Realtor.com property records and activations between 2017 and 2023. The inventory event study uses annual June snapshots of active listings matched on pre-period list price, days on market and metro area. Community income figures use year-matched American Community Survey 5-year estimates and are compared against the national median household income from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, retrieved via FRED.

About Realtor.com®

For over 30 years, Realtor.com® has connected buyers, sellers, and renters with trusted insights, professional guidance and powerful tools to help them find their perfect home. Recognized as the No. 1 real estate site REALTOR® agents recommend, Realtor.com® delivers consumer connections and a robust suite of marketing tools to support business growth. Realtor.com® is operated by News Corp [Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc.

Media Contact: Mallory Micetich, press@realtor.com

 

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/americans-arent-moving-toward-data-centers-data-centers-are-coming-to-them-realtorcom-report-finds-302847528.html

SOURCE Realtor.com

Continue Reading

Technology

DETROIT TO HOST FIRST GATHERING OF ARTISTS REIMAGINING THE FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY

Published

on

By

Mozilla Foundation and Doris Duke Foundation bring the artists behind the inaugural Artists Make Technology cohort of 20 projects to Michigan Central on November 13 to explore what happens when creativity drives innovation.

DETROIT, Nov. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Detroit will become a meeting point for art, technology, and imagination as Mozilla Foundation and the Doris Duke Foundation bring together 20 projects, made up of 40 pioneering artists and creative technologists, for the Artists Make Technology (AMT) Lab Assembly at the historic Michigan Central.

The grantees, chosen from a field of nearly 400 applicants, were announced last month. In Detroit, they’ll finally be in one place. Working across AI, robotics, immersive performance, spatial audio, and other emerging technologies, these artists are challenging conventional ideas about who gets to build technology, what it can do, and who it should serve.

Few places have pushed the boundaries of what’s possible like Detroit. The city is where Diego Rivera painted auto workers into the walls of the Detroit Institute of Arts, where Motown built a hit factory, and where a group of young musicians pushed drum machines and synthesizers in directions their makers never imagined, inventing techno. The Assembly’s venue carries that spirit of reinvention: the 1913 train station that sat empty for three decades before reopening in 2024 as a hub for technology and community.

“We do not want to live in the imagination of a few people in Silicon Valley and that’s why we’re bringing together 20 extraordinary creative minds who are already inventing an alternative future. Detroit has never waited for permission to build, and we’re putting real money behind artists who won’t either,” said Ziyaad Bhorat, Vice President of Imagination & Strategic Growth at Mozilla Foundation.

The Assembly will bring artists into conversation with leaders from the arts, technology, philanthropy, and policy communities. Through discussions, live performances, and creative demonstrations, the gathering will explore how artists can influence both the technologies being developed and the decisions governing their use.

The program will feature conversations about community-led technological innovation and the role of artists in shaping AI policy, alongside performances showcasing new forms of creative expression. Participants include representatives from Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Americans for the Arts, Omidyar Network, and Detroit’s creative and technology communities.

“In a world that invests in artists, technology stops being something that happens to us and becomes something we shape together. By bringing this exceptional group together in Detroit is an opportunity to connect creative experimentation with the people and institutions that can help turn new ideas into lasting impact,” added Bhorat.

“True innovation happens when we place artists at the center of technological development rather than as an afterthought,” said Ashley Ferro-Murray, Program Director for the Arts at the Doris Duke Foundation. “We are thrilled to partner with Mozilla Foundation and bring this remarkable inaugural cohort to Detroit, a city with a rich history of cultural reinvention, to build a more creative and equitable digital future together.”

“Michigan Central is proud to welcome the inaugural Artists Make Technology Lab Assembly to Detroit. Artists have always helped us imagine new ways of seeing, connecting, and building, and this gathering puts their ideas and leadership at the heart of the conversation about technology’s future. Bringing this cohort together at Michigan Central reflects our belief that innovation is strongest when it is grounded in creativity, community, and a diversity of voices,” said Nate Wallace, Head of Civic Partnerships at Michigan Central.

The $11 million, three-year initiative has raised $8 million to date, with support from the Doris Duke Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Ford Foundation. Since its announcement in January 2026, two additional funders have joined: the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and Omidyar Network.

The first round of grants, unveiled in October at Mozilla Festival in Barcelona, totals $2.75 million, with up to 40 awards planned over the life of the fund.

Event Details

Artists Make Technology Lab Assembly
Friday, November 13, 2026 | 2:00–8:00 p.m. ET
Michigan Central, 2001 15th Street, Detroit, MI 48216

Register for the assembly here.

Learn more about the inaugural Artists Make Technology cohort here.

About The Doris Duke Foundation

The mission of the Doris Duke Foundation (DDF) is to build a more creative, equitable and sustainable future. The foundation works across three areas: Arts & Culture; Nature; and Health & Well-being. DDF focuses its support to the performing arts on contemporary dance, jazz and theater artists, and the organizations that nurture, present and produce them. The Doris Duke Foundation is one of only two foundations in history to have received the National Medal of the Arts from the National Endowment for the Arts, presented by President Barack Obama, in special recognition of DDF’s support of creative expression across the United States and bold commitment to artistic risk, helping artists, musicians, dancers and actors share their talents and enrich the cultural life of the nation. Visit www.dorisduke.org to learn more.

About Mozilla Foundation

Mozilla Foundation is a global nonprofit dedicated to ensuring the internet remains open, inclusive, and equitable. Founded in 2003, it supports people-first technology through funding, advocacy, education, and research.

Rooted in the open-source movement and guided by the Mozilla Manifesto, Mozilla Foundation focuses on critical issue areas like ethical data practices, healthy digital ecosystems and shifting digital power toward individuals and communities.

Its work connects technologists, researchers, policymakers, and activists to reimagine and rebuild systems to serve the public good. With over two decades of global impact, Mozilla Foundation continues to lead the movement for a better technology future—powered by people, open by design and fueled by imagination.

About Mozilla Foundation’s Imagination Work

Mozilla Foundation’s Imagination Work finds and funds the people building what technology should do next, before their ideas enter the mainstream. Through fellowships, artist residencies, early-stage grants, dedicated funds, and convenings around the world, we back artists, researchers, technologists, and communities whose ideas are still too early or too unusual for traditional funding, and carry their work into the institutions that can adopt it. Current bets include grassroots open source quantum computing, small AI models that run locally and keep data on the device, AI tools for democratic institutions, and Artists Make Technology, an $11 million multi-foundation fund putting performing artists at the center of technology development. The Imagination Work is the front end of Mozilla Foundation’s mission. The organization that kept the internet open now works on what gets built on it, and who gets there first.

Contact:
Taylor Jeffrey
taylor@ny-loncollective.com

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/detroit-to-host-first-gathering-of-artists-reimagining-the-future-of-technology-302938621.html

SOURCE Mozilla Foundation

Continue Reading

Technology

81% of Software Teams Have Merged AI-Written Code They Didn’t Fully Understand, Finds TestMu AI’s State of AI in Quality Engineering 2026 Report

Published

on

By

AI now writes more than half of production code at 40% of teams, 44% see more bugs reaching production, and only 41% run any automated check on AI-written code before merge

NOIDA, India and SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 13, 2026 /CNW/ — TestMu AI (formerly LambdaTest), the Agentic AI Quality Engineering platform, today released the State of AI in Quality Engineering 2026 report. It finds that 81% of software teams have merged AI-generated code or tests they did not fully understand, and 44% report more escaped defects or production incidents as AI-written code has grown. AI now writes much of the code and many of the tests, yet most teams still verify that work with a person after the fact, or with another AI model.

97% of teams surveyed now use AI in testing or plan to. For most of them, the open question is how AI-generated code and tests get verified before they ship.

Key findings from the State of AI in Quality Engineering 2026 report:

The verification gap: Only 41% of teams run any automated check on AI-written code before merge; most rely on manual review (55%) or a QA hand-off after the code is written (51%). Teams without separate CI tests see escaped defects rise more often (49%) than teams that run them (38%).Developers are the most exposed: 93% of developers have merged AI output they did not fully understand.AI grading AI widens the gap: Teams that use one model to score another (LLM-as-a-judge) regularly merge AI output they do not understand twice as often as other teams (29% against 15%). AI-generated tests are “almost right, but not quite” a median 65% of the time.AI agents ship on human review and demos: 77% of teams build AI agents they need to test, but 37% of them have no systematic way to evaluate those agents, and only 28% test agents against users who try to break them.Budgets fund generation, not verification: 50% of teams spend most of their AI testing budget on producing AI output, against 17% on verifying it.Few are prepared for AI mistakes: Only 13% of teams have an incident-response plan for AI errors.

“Software teams now rely on AI to write their code, generate their tests, and increasingly determine whether both are ready to ship. Verification, however, has not kept pace with that shift. We believe any output AI produces should be validated by a system independent of the model that produced it, before it merges and every time it changes. The teams in our survey that already follow this discipline see fewer defects reach production, and we expect it to become the standard for engineering organizations shipping with AI”, said Asad Khan, Co-founder and CEO of TestMu AI

Read the report here: testmuai.com/research/state-of-ai-in-quality-engineering.

About TestMu AI

TestMu AI (Formerly LambdaTest) is an Agentic AI Quality Engineering platform that assures AI deployments across the enterprise and the real world. It runs agentic testing for web and mobile apps on 5,000+ browsers and 50,000+ real devices, and for chat, voice, IVR, video, and image agents. For more information, visit www.testmuai.com.

Media Contact

Nikhil Saxena
Corporate Communication Manager, TestMu AI
nikhils@testmuai.com| +91 98709 81968

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/81-of-software-teams-have-merged-ai-written-code-they-didnt-fully-understand-finds-testmu-ais-state-of-ai-in-quality-engineering-2026-report-302938904.html

SOURCE TestMu AI (Formerly LambdaTest)

Continue Reading

Technology

Insta360 Brings 360 Camera Technology to the Big Screen in New Film How to Rob a Bank

Published

on

By

Insta360 brings 8K 360 capture to the big screen, giving filmmakers greater creative freedom from the shoot through the edit.

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Insta360 X5 makes its Hollywood film debut in How to Rob a Bank, an action directed by David Leitch (Bullet Train, The Fall Guy).

Starring Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz, Anna Sawai, Rhenzy Feliz, Christian Slater, Pete Davidson and John C. Reilly, the story follows a crew of social media-savvy bank robbers who broadcast their daring heists, unaware that their growing viral fame has put them in the crosshairs of a veteran FBI agent and a brilliant software engineer. Despite the unlikely duo closing in, the crime ring pushes past their limits, putting everything on the line for their beliefs – and their most ambitious heist yet. The film was produced by Brian Grazer, Jeb Brody, Allan Mandelbaum, Kelly McCormick, and David Leitch. Executive producers include Ben Ormand and Mark Bianculli.

Insta360 was integrated not only into the production of a Hollywood feature, but into the story itself. Insta360 X5 is the camera of choice for the social-media-savvy crew, with footage captured on X5 appearing in the finished film.

One Story, Two Visual Languages

With the characters being both bank robbers and content creators who film their exploits, the movie presented a distinctive creative challenge: how could traditional 35mm cinematography and character-shot social media videos work together to tell one cohesive story?

Director David Leitch and the cinematography team needed to develop two visual languages that could exist side by side. Carefully composed 35mm photography would capture the characters’ lives and emotions, while their heist videos needed to feel energetic and believable as content the characters would shoot themselves.

After extensive testing during pre-production, Insta360 emerged as the ideal fit for this raw, spontaneous visual style.

A New Perspective on Every Shot

Beyond capturing the action from the characters’ perspective, Insta360 X5 gave the filmmakers the freedom to explore different compositions from a single take. During pre-production, Jimmy Johenning, Producer of Digital Sequences, demonstrated Insta360’s reframing capabilities to Leitch and Jonathan Sela, director of photography for the main unit, by handing them an iPad and letting them explore the footage in real time.

For Leitch, the ability to create new shots from existing 360 footage proved particularly valuable during the heist sequences, giving the team more flexibility to connect the action and keep the story moving. As he explains, “When we needed a shot and we had a 360 running, we could literally create a shot.”

Post Production Supervisor Jacob Donohue offers a practical example: if a shot initially looked down the barrel of a gun but the director later wanted to see the person holding it, the team could return to the same 360 footage and reframe. A single recorded moment could offer different perspectives as the edit evolved.

This approach was used extensively throughout production. The team typically had seven or eight Insta360 cameras running per shooting day, with as many as 12 to 20 deployed during individual heist sequences. On motorcycles and moving vehicles, capturing the entire scene also allowed the filmmakers to shape camera movements in post that would have been difficult or effectively impossible to execute physically at those speeds.

Meeting the Demands of an Action Movie

The team also explored camera placements that would be difficult to achieve with conventional setups. For Jonathan Sela, placing X5 inside a money bag offered a particularly compelling perspective. The camera captured the robbers throwing cash into the bag, turning it around and tossing it, bringing the audience directly into the action.

Another shot looks through a stack of banknotes as the robbers flip through the money, a favorite of Donohue. The camera‘s compact design and wide field of view made these unconventional placements possible, while giving the filmmakers perspectives that larger camera rigs would struggle to reach. For David Myrick, Director of Photography, YouTube unit, the cameras also opened up possibilities beyond the familiar tools of dollies, Steadicams and cranes. As he put it, “This was just kind of like there were no rules.”

The fast-moving sequences also put Insta360’s stabilization and horizon leveling to the test. With cameras mounted on moving vehicles and actors, FlowState Stabilization and 360° Horizon Lock helped keep footage smooth and level despite movement and vibration. Johenning described FlowState Stabilization as a “game changer,” highlighting its potential for car scenes, motorcycles and fight sequences.

The replaceable lens design proved equally practical on a demanding action-film set. Johenning recalled the production going through approximately 20 to 30 lenses but only around two camera bodies. With both lenses replaceable in less than a minute, the team could get cameras back into use quickly and continue exploring creative setups.

From Behind the Scenes to the Cinema Screen

For 360 footage to make the final cut of a theatrical feature, it needed to meet the film’s image-quality standards and fit into an established professional post-production workflow. The team processed and reframed the footage in Insta360 Studio before transcoding it to ProRes for use in DaVinci Resolve and Avid, allowing the 360 footage to be incorporated alongside material captured with traditional cameras.

For Donohue, confidence that the cameras could deliver footage suitable for theatrical exhibition was essential. The team was pleased with how the 360 footage looked on the big screen, demonstrating how 360 capture could contribute to a major film production.

Expanding the Possibilities of Filmmaking with 360 Capture

From unconventional camera placements to the freedom to reframe shots in post, Insta360’s contribution to How to Rob a Bank demonstrates how 360 capture can give filmmakers new ways to approach action sequences. With footage that fits into a professional theatrical workflow, 360 capture expands the film’s visual language while keeping more creative decisions open—from the shoot through the edit.

Don’t miss Insta360 X5 in How to Rob a Bank, now playing only in theaters.

About Insta360

With a “Think bold” mindset, Insta360 empowers people to capture and share their lives in extraordinary ways. Recognized as a market leader and innovator, Insta360’s vast lineup includes the world’s best-selling 360 cameras in the X Series, the thumb-sized GO Series for everyday capture, as well as an extensive range of action cameras, gimbals, webcams, and professional photography solutions. With intuitive, AI-powered software, Insta360 simplifies the creative process, allowing users to focus on storytelling without technical barriers. Insta360 is dedicated to helping a new generation of athletes, creatives, travelers and professionals bring their ideas to life.

For more details visit: http://www.insta360.com
About the Think Bold Fund: https://www.insta360.com/ThinkBoldFund
Read our blog: https://www.insta360.com/blog
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Insta360
Follow us on X: https://x.com/insta360
Follow us on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/insta360
Follow us on TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@insta360_official
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/insta360
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/insta360

Press Contact
Insta360
pr@insta360.com 

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/insta360-brings-360-camera-technology-to-the-big-screen-in-new-film-how-to-rob-a-bank-302938624.html

SOURCE Insta360

Continue Reading

Trending