One of the largest data centers in the country is rising from the parched scrub desert of southern New Mexico. Most county officials are agog at the jobs and investment this high tech mega-project has promised to bring. But many locals are asking: can chile and pecan farming co-exist with Project Jupiter?
The scale of the project befuddles the brain.
At 1,400 acres, it could swallow New York’s Central Park. With two-and-a-half gigawatts of electricity, it could power more than half of New Mexico. And $165 billion in investment capital—if developers reach that goal—could pick up the tab for 40 Artemis moon shots.
Why do they keep building these things in places that already have drought conditions?
There are like 3000 data centers being planned at the moment, which is a truly absurd number, I’m not even sure there are enough construction workers for that many. If I had to guess, maybe 5% of those are planned on being built, but we don’t know which ones. The deciding factor on success is primarily if mayors and city officials can be bribed to expedite permits, and since you don’t know which cities will fall for it, you need to try everywhere and see what sticks.
Not for some of the more specialized workers
And very high ambient temperatures year round. Build the in Montana or North Dakota where water is fairly abundant and you can cool them by opening a window. 8 months of the year.
Cheap land, cheap labor, cheep cheep beach.