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Despite its massive scale, Stargate intends to employ “at least” 57 full-time employees earning an average wage of just $57,600 annually, according to documents seen by Bloomberg regarding the ambitious data center project.
Stargate was introduced earlier this week as a data center project intended to power AI systems for OpenAI, which has distanced itself from Microsoft due to its unwillingness to provide more resources. The startup is partnering with Oracle and SoftBank on the project, which will help operate the facilities and raise more capital, respectively. The group further intends to raise $500 billion over the next four years to open more data centers beyond the first one in Abilene, Texas, on a site the size of New York’s Central Park.
Data centers are frequently announced in states across the U.S. to great fanfare as governors and local officials applaud the economic opportunity for their regions. However, data centers typically do not employ very many people once the construction is finished, at least not directly. President Trump announced Stargate alongside the group’s leaders earlier this week, saying it would create “over 100,000 American jobs.” But that number appears nebulous, which is a guess for the indirect number of jobs that will be created in the AI industry thanks to the larger capacity. How that number was determined is anyone’s guess.
In past years, Apple has defended the fees it charges App Store developers, citing the number of people indirectly employed across the U.S. in app development.
Bloomberg examined the number of permanent workers employed by other data centers in Texas and found the numbers to be quite small. Microsoft employs just 325 people across all its data centers in Texas, but that number is in the thousands during construction. “We estimate it will take approximately 11.8 million work hours and more than 2,892 jobs during peak construction to complete the construction of new data centers,” a report reads.
Tech companies often tout these numbers to get tax breaks. Abilene has given Stargate an 85% discount on its property taxes for two decades of its operations.
In addition to concerns about data centers using massive amounts of energy and harming fragile power grids, locals in some communities across the U.S. have complained about the visual blight of massive beige data centers the size of football fields sitting in view of their homes. President Trump says he will expedite the construction of power plants co-located beside data centers, including even ones using coal.
The tech industry has gotten behind the new Republican White House as it has lifted regulation on AI safety and committed to beating China in the race to dominance, even though massive returns on investment have not yet materialized and Trump pledges to cede America’s chances of beating China in another field, electric cars. Tech leaders have been beating the drum that China’s domination in artificial intelligence threatens U.S. national security. Maybe it’s true, but the likes of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also have some self-interest in making these statements.
