Rural America is seeing a huge growth in data centers. Jeff Johnston, Lead Economist for Infrastructure with CoBank, says it’s a remarkable development, especially as it pertains to AI.
“This is a fascinating time for our country, and I think a pretty exciting time for rural America as well, because I would say rural America, from an AI infrastructure perspective, rural America is taking center stage right now. When you look at how these new AI data centers are built and architected, and you look at the enormous amount of energy requirements that they demand, you know, rural America is very well positioned from several factors to be able to support the growth in AI and support the growth in this infrastructure.”
Johnston said the stakes are high as several major companies are spending a lot of money setting up these centers.
“When we talk about AI, there are geopolitical implications for us and China. There are economic implications as well, in terms of productivity and growth, so the stakes are enormously high. The amount of money that’s being spent by major data center companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, and Google is nothing short of mind-blowing. And again, rural America is taking center stage in this AI revolution.”
Johnston says AI developments parallel the effort to close the broadband gap in rural America and if both efforts are going to succeed, infrastructure has to play catch up.
“We have a challenge. We have an opportunity – however you want to look at it – in front of us as it relates to generating enough electrons to be able to support the growth in AI and data centers and to maintain and hopefully increase our technology lead over China. So, power electrons, as we go forward, that is the new currency. That is the new currency. If you look at some of the studies that have been done and the estimates around energy consumption, we are headed for a supply-demand imbalance in the energy complex because of AI in the not-too-distant future. I know the administration is very well aware of this when working with the industry and the data center companies on new technologies, breaking down some barriers, and trying to do everything they can just to generate enough electrons, but this is a challenge. This is a problem, but this is an opportunity. A very big opportunity as well.”
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