Data Centers In The Middle Of Nowhere
Michigan is one of America’s largest states based on population. It will likely have its largest data center in Howell Township. It is as remote an area as there is in the southern part of the state. It has a great deal of unused land, which may make building a data center inexpensive due to low real estate prices. What is unclear is where it will get the vast amounts of electricity and water it will need. Howell is not near any large body of water.
The Howell project is part of a recent trend. Meta plans to invest $10 billion to build a data center in a remote part of Louisiana. It will be built in a partnership with the huge utility Entergy. It is expected to begin operating in three years. If the project goes over budget, on current terms, taxpayers will need to make up the difference.
A local paper reports, “This project will encompass a thousand acres of farmland, and the $1 billion initial capital investment of the unnamed tech company will immediately make it Livingston County’s largest taxpayer.”
Oddly, it is a mystery where an AI server farm in Howell will get workers. The entire county has only 10,000 residents.
Another recently approved data center is being built in a remote part of Tennessee. Elon Musk’s xAI will use this. Local residents believe it may produce dangerous chemicals.
It may be that remote data centers offer benefits beyond chip land. They also have very few voters when decisions about their operations are raised
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