THE DATA CENTER AS BOOGEYMAN

computer servers

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 (PRC).

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 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 should come as no surprise as the CCP has a long history of stoking anti-American left-wing causes through so-called Nongovernmental Organizations (NGO’s) and other political activist groups.

Hysterical outbursts by an uninformed or biased public is one thing. But failing to respond to what is clearly asymmetric warfare is quite another. Secretary of State Marco Rubio must bring an immediate halt to the disinformation campaign by the CCP and its allies before any further damage is done. Not only do we have to tell the CCP to knock it off but it would be most helpful if leaders in both private and government organizations conducted press briefings, seminars, townhalls, and other manner of information sharing meant to set the record straight on the benefits of data center construction to our nation. That data center construction demands intelligent planning and careful execution is obvious. But, slowing down the pace of new data center construction, simply to mollify real or perceived anxieties, is an acknowledgement that we haven’t got the strength of will to face up to our adversaries in what is clearly a digital arms race.

I have met with PRC technologists – and their hard to ignore apparatchik in olive drab uniform – who were in our country courtesy of the United Nations ostensibly for the purpose of learning about Western technology in the broadest terms. In fact, from their interrogatories, both in English and in Chinese, they were here to suck up as much intellectual capital as we were willing to provide. Needless to say, they left our meetings empty-handed.

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 – and those of friendly and non-friendly nations – 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.