Comment by Aurornis

It’s the power and water needs.

Large data centers consume as much power as a small city. The location decision is about being able to connect to a power grid that is ready to supply that.

Evaporative cooling also needs steady water supply. There are data centers which don’t operate on evaporative cooling but it’s more equipment intensive and expensive.

Latency doesn’t matter. You can get fast enough internet connected to these sites much more easily than finding power.