A trade association representing the tech companies called NetChoice is encouraging Kentucky and other states to compete for their data centers by cutting their taxes.
“Data centers will locate in the states that are most friendly to their businesses,” NetChoice President Steve DelBianco told the House committee. “There is no natural magnet to Kentucky. There is, at this point, a natural magnet to Ohio and Indiana, to Idaho and even to Alabama. If you’d like the industry to be here, we’re just inviting you to do this one small thing.”
DelBianco said the average data center, the size of an aircraft carrier, costs about $800 million to build and equip with servers. Roughly half of that cost covers the servers, he said, which are replaced every three years with faster, cooler equipment.