Amazon officials on Friday, March 6, clarified that a building it purchased in Northern Pasadena will be used to expand its existing quantum computing work in the city and will not be the site of a new artificial intelligence data center as some in the community feared.
The 168,000-square-foot building is at 2964 Bradley St., north of Sierra Madre Boulevard along New York Drive.
“The facility Amazon purchased in Northern Pasadena is a research-and-development facility that expands our quantum computing work in Pasadena,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement Friday.
In 2021, Amazon partnered with Caltech to open the AWS Center for Quantum Computing, a two-story building on the northeast corner of the campus.
According to Caltech, the goal was to create quantum computers and related technologies that could revolutionize data security, machine learning, medicine development and sustainability practices.
While some of the same quantum computing work will be done at the new site, it is not affiliated with Caltech.
In addition to online rumors sparking concern about a potential Amazon data center, a public commenter at Monday’s City Council meeting brought up her concern that the building was purchased to be turned into a data center.
The comment came during a presentation about proposed Pasadena Water and Power electrical rate increases.
“No application has been submitted and we have not reviewed any plans, we don’t know what’s being proposed there,” PWP General Manager David Reyes said Monday. “Until they come in and submit something it’s hard for us to comment specifically on what some company may or may not do.”
Data centers have prompted concern in communities across the region and the nation. As artificial intelligence emerges as a more common technology, such centers are needed to house and power the vast numbers of servers needed. But they consume large amounts of power, prompting concerns about strain on the power grid, higher utility rates and environmental issues.
Councilmember Justin Jones said the issue of data centers would be discussed at an upcoming meeting of the City Council’s Municipal Services Committee.
“We’re in early planning stages and committed to working with city officials and the community throughout the permitting and development process,” the Amazon spokesperson said.
Quantum computing is a different problem solving technology from artificial intelligence. Quantum computing relies on the laws of quantum physics to process information in a new and more powerful way than traditional computers.
At a quantum computing research and development facility scientists and engineers design, build and test components needed to advance quantum computing.
Pasadena’s history with quantum innovation goes back to longtime Caltech physics professor Richard Feynman who was one of the first to propose quantum computers in a 1981 lecture, according to Caltech.
Fear around the emergence of water and power guzzling data centers is not unique to Pasadena.
In Monterey Park, its City Council approved measures to prohibit the building of data centers citywide.
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