In the minds of many, the recent boom in data center construction ranks right up there with the “existential threat” that climate change poses to all humanity. True believers in a post-apocalyptic world, of course, ignore the fact that climate change has been thoroughly debunked as an omnipresent threat to the planet through the rigorous scientific research of apolitical climatologists. Please see our separate essay Climate Change: Science or Propaganda? for a full expression of the facts versus fiction.
But all is not lost! A new boogeyman has been found at the hands of technologists who want to build and operate data centers. So, “Doomsday” is back in the news. The litany of grievances against data center construction by modern day Luddites includes some of the following:
- Soaring utility costs
- Noise pollution
- Environmental desecration
- Strain on water supplies
- Questionable economic benefits
- Tax breaks that only favor “Big Tech” oligarchs
Fortunately, the textile weaver of the early nineteenth century eventually saw that the benefits of factory automation far outweighed the risks. Whether today’s data center scaremongering subsides anytime soon remains to be seen. What is true, is that if the United States fails to overcome its current alarmism over data centers we will have abetted the globalist agenda to de-industrialize America and we will have ceded a huge geostrategic advantage to the People’s Republic of China.
THE DATA CENTER AS AN ECONOMIC ENGINE
I am not an oligarch by any stretch of the imagination but my colleagues and I built three large data centers in the United States. These physically secure and restricted-access fortresses powered factories, hospitals, banks, software development sites, and scores of other facilities with zero down-time. The reach of our digital footprint spanned not only North America but also Central and South America, Asia, and Europe. Our data centers were located in the East, the Midwest, and the West. And, without exception, the local communities welcomed us with open arms. Our data centers velocitized local economies by employing thousands of workers in service occupations, and in skilled and technical trades. None of the scaremongering we see today ever came to pass. On the contrary, our businesses contributed mightily to local tax rolls essential to funding public services, employee take-home pay, stockholder returns, and utility company upgrades. As a result, we had a strong financial incentive to remain able custodians of the environment.
THE DATA CENTER AS A NATIONAL SECURITY PRIORITY
Currently, the United States has nearly double the number of gigawatts driving data centers as does China (approximately 60 GW to 30 GW). But make no mistake about it, China is on a mission to overtake the United States in this digital battle ground. And rest assured, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) does not countenance rigid permitting delays, labor complaints, utility costs, institutional bottlenecks, activist protests or environmental scares as do feckless government officials in the United States. Worse, there is now growing evidence that a Chinese state-driven propaganda campaign has been launched in the United States meant to foment and amplify public anxieties about data center construction. This is asymmetric warfare and it needs to be brought to a halt by the United States Government.
If our country continues to fall prey to the actions of activist groups and local governments intent on sabotaging our future economic well-being, China will not only drive our domestic digital signals in all manner of critical and non-critical venues in business and government but they will also possess our most intimate, private, and personal data and information. At that point, our most important national currency, our freedom, will have been compromised.
Data centers are not just buildings full of computer servers. They are a vital and dynamic part of the current Industrial Revolution. These buildings stand tall and are living proof that the American Dream is alive and well.
Management Advisor
