Latest / The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
Why Government Data Centers Are 40 Percent Empty
Episode 49 of The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo examines why government data centers run at just 60 percent utilization on average, wasting billions in taxpayer money on unused servers, cooling, and power. Lucas and Luna dig into a 2025 GAO report that found federal agencies maintain over 8,000 data centers, many with utilization below 40 percent. They compare this to private-sector best practices at Google and AWS, which push utilization above 80 percent. The episode also explores the cultural and procurement barriers that prevent consolidation — including agency turf wars, multi-year…
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