From Netflix to GPS: 10 ways this hidden tech infrastructure quietly powers modern life

Data centers are the hidden infrastructure behind much of modern life, powering everything from the apps on your phone and the shows you stream to online shopping, banking and artificial intelligence .

Inside these warehouse-sized facilities, thousands of servers store data, process digital requests and keep online services running around the clock.

Most Americans may never see one, but they use them constantly—often without realizing it.

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The recent race to build more facilities is being driven in large part by AI, which Kaiser said processes "way more data" than routine activities such as email and social media.

But data centers are necessary for so much more than creating a speedy reply to your ChatGPT questions.

Here are 10 ways data centers quietly power the services Americans rely on every day.

From Instagram and TikTok to Gmail and banking apps, data centers process and store the information behind the services people use every day.

When you open an app, upload a photo, refresh your feed or send a message, your phone is connecting to servers that retrieve and deliver that information in seconds.

The apps may live on a screen in your hand, but much of the work happens far away inside a physical facility filled with computers running continuously.

Netflix, YouTube, Spotify and other streaming platforms rely on massive computing infrastructure to deliver movies, videos and music to millions of users at once.

Data centers help store enormous libraries of content and move it quickly enough to prevent the pauses and buffering that frustrate viewers.

Online games also rely on data centers to connect players, synchronize what is happening in a match and reduce the lag that can make a game unplayable.

The more people stream, game and use data-heavy services, the more computing power those platforms need behind the scenes.