People Are Protesting Data Centers—but They Accept The Industries That Provide Them
Last month, Pamela Griffin and two other residents of Taylor, Texas, attended a city council meeting to oppose the data center project. But later, they sat down as council members discussed the proposed technology factory. Griffin did not speak out against that development. No one did.
The same disparity is repeated across US communities. Data centers are facing unprecedented public opposition, and environmental costs are a major concern. Many of them are needed to fuel the growing desire for AI, and they have become flashpoints for communities worried about what automation might mean for them. However, many industries built to supply servers, electronics, and other components to data centers face little to no opposition.
Factories tend to create more jobs and emit fewer natural resources than data centers, so apart from a few opposing chipmaking fabrics in a few states, they’ve been going through local forums to get permits and tax breaks. But supply chain experts say the narrow scrutiny of manufacturing projects highlights a potential new tactic for activists fighting data centers and a source of risk for communities that may be investing in short-term development.
“At some point, people are going to see what an important industry it is that can bring all data centers to their knees, and they’re going to leave after that,” said Andy Tsay, a professor at Santa Clara University who studies global trade and outsourcing.
While targeting the supply chain may be a new way to reduce data center infrastructure, Griffin says deployments are spread too thin to take on more. So for now, the door is wide open for manufacturers to expand their presence in the US and feed the data center market without much resistance.
“We need to start from scratch and find those people who make those servers, but we have to first get people to understand what these data centers are,” Griffin said. “We have to pick our battles.”
At last month’s council meeting he was focused on opposing the proposal for a second data center in Taylor, following the one built near his home which he sued to be stopped. That night, Griffin and fellow activists knew the council would consider a proposed factory for Taiwanese manufacturer Compal. But the potential role of the site in supporting the data center industry did not appear to them.
Griffin’s case shows what protest communities are up against when considering challenging production projects: publicity, public opinion, and the prospect of more legal battles.
Server Farms
City records describe Compal’s goals as making “servers,” in addition to everything from smart home appliances to automotive electronics.
The list is extensive, but Compal spokeswoman Tina Chang tells WIRED that the Taylor factory will be for the company’s server business. The facility is being leased by Compal USA Technology, a subsidiary of Compal that was established last year to expand Compal’s server product operations in the US. Another site near Georgetown, Texas, announced at the same time as the Taylor facility, will “establish a server services center that supports business needs and cloud infrastructure,” according to the company.
Taylor, who is from near Austin, spent more than a year courting Compal, which considered other options around the world before choosing the city. The 366,000-square-foot pre-fab facility was won by the company, which said it signed a $66 million lease with plans to invest $200 million in total. “They like to be open,” Ben White, president of the Taylor Economic Development Corporation, told the city council at a December meeting. “It gave them the strength to do what needed to be done.”
