Data Centres Do Create Local Jobs. A Brookings Report Says Fewer Than the Industry Claims.
Data Center Map, a company that tracks both operational and pre-operational sites, counts about 12,250 data centres around the world, the BBC reports. The densest cluster sits in the United States, which has 4,767 of them.
Supporters make two distinct arguments: that the facilities are critical to national security and to developing AI, and that they are good for the economy by attracting investment, generating tax revenue and creating jobs in construction.
A recent Brookings Center report suggests they do create local jobs, though fewer than industry advocates claim. That single clause is the most useful thing in the whole argument: it concedes the benefit and shrinks it at once, which is more than most infrastructure pitches manage.
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The honest version of the pro-data-centre case would lead with tax revenue and strategic capacity, and mutter the jobs figure.
Careful, though. The Brookings finding is about jobs, and supporters also claim investment and tax revenue; an estimate of one ledger line neither confirms nor refutes the others.