How Data Centers Are Rewiring America’s Local Economies
Across the United States, small towns and mid sized cities are rolling out the red carpet for big tech. Data centers the physical backbone of the digital world are being heralded as a new industrial revolution, promising high paying jobs, infrastructure investments, and community revitalization. But beneath the surface, a far more complex, and at times unsettling, reality is emerging.
In places like Hillsboro, Oregon, vast stretches of farmland once devoted to tulips, grass seed, and small scale agriculture are giving way to sprawling rows of concrete, cooling towers, and power substations.
Farmer Aaron Nichols, whose 15 acre operation employs ten people, says local land prices have skyrocketed, pushing out farmers and small business owners alike. “Buying land is nearly impossible because people are holding out for windfall profits from tech developers,” he explains.
This speculative pressure fuels what economists call land lockout a cycle where traditional industries can no longer expand due to artificially inflated property prices. It doesn’t just hurt farmers, it chokes out local entrepreneurs, from mechanics to software startups.
https://samueleburns.substack.com/p/the-high-cost-of-the-ai-gold-rusheconomies
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