What is a data center? That question could shape the future of DeSoto County

ARCADIA, Fla. (WINK)—People have a lot of questions about the massive data center planned for DeSoto County. How much water will it use? How will it impact the environment? How much money could it generate?

Some have a more basic question: What is a data center? 

Nicol Turner Lee leads the Center for Technology Innovation at the Brookings Institution. She said data centers are a trade-off. They house the infrastructure required for artificial intelligence to function, including computer chips and servers that power AI and connect it to the outside world.

But data centers also have an appetite: For water, power, and land. From California to Michigan and now DeSoto County, opposition to data centers is uniting a politically divided country.

"People do not understand what these things are, what they do, how they're connected to their general AI use, and more importantly, they're not necessarily involved in the conversation," Lee said.

Huzefa Kagdi is the dean of Florida Gulf Coast University's engineering school. He said data centers, in one form or another, have been around for decades, powering the internet and computers. 

"These things are not really new; they have been around for a long time," Kagdi said. In fact, the U.S. military created one of the first data centers in the 1940s to compute artillery coordinates in World War II. The National Museum of the U.S. Army said it weighed more than 27 tons, occupied 1,800 square feet, and consumed 150 kilowatts of power.

But now, the size and scale of data centers are increasing to feed America's appetite for artificial intelligence as the United States competes against China for AI dominance.

"A data center is almost like a sacrifice for the entire nation," Lee said.

One estimate predicts data centers will use up to 12% of all electricity in the U.S. by 2028. In May, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill requiring large data centers to pay for their own utilities.

However, the bill does not ban artificial intelligence companies from signing non-disclosure agreements with state agencies, like the governor wanted. "We know it's taking water, we know it's taking electricity,” DeSantis said during a bill signing ceremony in Lakeland. “What is it producing in terms of jobs and economic development?"

Lee said data centers could provide economic benefits to communities. 

One DeSoto County commissioner previously told WINK News the facility could generate $30 million a year in tax revenue. That would be a big boost for one of the state’s poorest counties. 

However, Lee cautioned that it’s important for communities to keep their eyes open - and ask questions. She said the long-term impact of these facilities isn’t clear. And it’s possible data centers could sit vacant if the AI boom goes bust.

“This is the question, I think, of the 21st Century,” Lee said. “Are data centers necessary today?"