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Stargate - Abilene


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#1 FortWorthian

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Posted 21 January 2025 - 04:36 PM

Trump just announced Stargate. $500B AI Infrastructure protect starting with data centers in Abilene.

#2 TLA

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Posted 21 January 2025 - 06:08 PM

Here’s a TechCrunch article summarizing the initiative, mentioning Abilene: https://techcrunch.c...center-project/

I’ve been meaning to better understand the local economics of data centers. In my professional life, I’ve shipped IT hardware to datacenters, but there’s not a sizeable workforce manning these sites. They use a ton of electricity, more so with AI. But is there a tax on energy consumed? We don’t have a statewide public utility, so there’s no boon to our revenue via electricity consumption. There’s the upfront capital construction costs building it, which is a short term local benefit. However, what’s the recurring benefit for any municipality having this in their backyard. Is the property tax different if I’m building my datacenter to run a $1B revenue generating AI application? Guessing not. Are the profits from said business taxed locally? Probably not. If my company is headquartered in California, then I buy all millions of dollars of servers, switches, firewalls from my HQ, to then have a distributor ship locally — is there any sales tax for the municipality where the equipment will reside?

#3 FortWorthian

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Posted 22 January 2025 - 10:10 AM

Here's an underlying concern for many Texans, especially after what we went through a few winters ago.

 

"He’s expected to issue a spate of executive orders to ensure new data centers built in connection with the investment will have enough energy."

https://fortune.com/...son-son-altman/

 

Something else to keep in mind:

 

What's happening at the Foxconn site in Wisconsin five years after the company announced its plans
Portrait of Ricardo TorresRicardo Torres
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
 
[...estimated that more than billion dollars of taxpayer money went toward supporting the deal but in 2021, the WI Econ. Dev. Corp. OK'd a much smaller package.] 

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#4 FortWorthian

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Posted 22 January 2025 - 11:08 AM

Here’s a TechCrunch article summarizing the initiative, mentioning Abilene: https://techcrunch.c...center-project/

I’ve been meaning to better understand the local economics of data centers. In my professional life, I’ve shipped IT hardware to datacenters, but there’s not a sizeable workforce manning these sites. They use a ton of electricity, more so with AI. But is there a tax on energy consumed? We don’t have a statewide public utility, so there’s no boon to our revenue via electricity consumption. There’s the upfront capital construction costs building it, which is a short term local benefit. However, what’s the recurring benefit for any municipality having this in their backyard. Is the property tax different if I’m building my datacenter to run a $1B revenue generating AI application? Guessing not. Are the profits from said business taxed locally? Probably not. If my company is headquartered in California, then I buy all millions of dollars of servers, switches, firewalls from my HQ, to then have a distributor ship locally — is there any sales tax for the municipality where the equipment will reside?

 

This may be the exception and not the rule, but here's an example of a county that successfully levies personal property tax on the computer equipment inside the data centers.  The equipment is being refreshed about every 3 years!  I'd have to believe that new data centers likely find places that fit the mold for their infrastructure and have the best tax incentives, not to be specifically paying out the you know what on their equipment: https://netchoice.or...st-a-few-years/

 

[By 2030, computer equipment tax revenue could range  $1.5B - $2.5B while the county’s fiscal 2021 budget was $3 billion.]

 

Talk about counting your chickens before they hatch, if the goal is to bleed them dry, I wouldn't be suprised to see a for sale sign on this data center someday.

 

This is interesting too: [Data center land here is selling for $750,000 to $2 million+ per acre]

 

This has a lot more info on tax programs for data centers:

https://www.taxnotes...023/12/28/7hmb7



#5 FortWorthian

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Posted 24 January 2025 - 08:48 AM

Facility Name: Project Ludicrous Building 1

https://www.tdlr.tex.../TABS2024023596

 

Facility Name: Building 01 Tenant Improvement

https://www.tdlr.tex.../TABS2025000156

 

Facility Name: Building 2

https://www.tdlr.tex.../TABS2025000049

 

Facility Name: Building 02 (Tenant Improvement)

https://www.tdlr.tex.../TABS2025007742



#6 JBB

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Posted 24 January 2025 - 08:59 AM

Facility Name: Project Ludicrous Building 1

 

 

spaceballs-meme.jpg?cb=dfe815ecd98a72378






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