To win over locals, data centers pump $340M into rural Texas projects

Data center companies building in rural Texas have poured more than $343 million into local communities over the past year, paying for water towers, school programs, hospital upgrades, and emergency services. Google, Rowan Digital Infrastructure, QTS, IREN, and Lancium are among the companies funding these projects, often in the same towns that have pushed back against data center construction over worries about electric bills, water use, and housing.

Some examples: Rowan is giving Temple $38 million for water infrastructure and has pledged $3 million toward rebuilding a tornado-damaged community center if voters approve a bond. Google committed $4.5 million to fix a leaking pipeline in Vernon and gave $6 million to nonprofits in three other towns. In Turkey, a town of about 275 people, QTS is replacing a failed water tower at an estimated cost of $3 million to $5 million after weeks without water. In Childress, Lancium is building a 16-mile pipeline to supply the city with a million gallons of treated water a day at no cost, as the town deals with a monthlong boil-water notice.

This is happening against a backdrop of tight municipal budgets, since state and local tax breaks mean Texas will forgo at least $3 billion in sales tax revenue over the next two years from the data center industry. Public opinion remains mixed: a recent poll found 57 percent of Texans would oppose a data center in their own community, even as local officials in towns receiving this money say the investments have been hard to turn down.