Data
Fell into the data center rabbit hole after my recent drive through Bosque County. I was enjoying the scenery when a big sign for data center careers caught my eye. I thought, one must be nearby. And sure enough there it was. So, I took a picture and went looking to see what was up. I discovered the site is being built by a company named CyrusOne which is owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a wholly owned subsidiary of Blackrock. Ultimately the site, a hyperscale data center, will cover nearly 17 acres.
It’s with a hint of irony that I got a lot of this info from Claude, an AI option that my browser (Firefox) handily provides. I figure if I’m going to use a tool, I ought to know its impacts. For better or for worse, I think that AI, like the telegraph, telephones, electricity, and the internet is here to stay and it too requires infrastructure. I hope we can have a civil conversation about all of this, but I suspect that’s an old man’s dream.
As I look at these projects, and there are lots of them, I try to put myself in the shoes of folks from decades past who watched telegraph poles, barbed wire fences, train tracks, and oil wells cut up the American landscape. There had to be a sense of loss as the future came roaring down the tracks. This time it’s the cloud come to earth sucking up water and power and land for another new future. Of course, only time will tell how it turns out. Fortunately, I think there’s a chance people can have a seat at the table to talk about it, the only question being, will the money boys listen.