00:00This story is about more than just AI.
00:03It's about the very expensive physical build out
00:06that's required to power these systems.
00:08We've heard a lot about how it's difficult to find workers
00:11in construction already with the immigration
00:14dragnet that's happening.
00:15So in order to attract him to come work way out
00:17in the middle of West Texas, these ManCamp manufacturers
00:20need to offer things like golf simulators
00:22or fresh steaks to order.
00:33To power the boom in data center building,
00:35companies are heading far outside of Silicon Valley
00:38and cities in general.
00:40We're starting to see some pushback from cities
00:42where residents are kind of concerned
00:44about what living near a data center might mean
00:46for their property values and for their way of life.
00:48We're seeing projects push out further into rural stretches
00:51of places like Texas and Louisiana
00:53because you can get much cheaper land out there
00:56and you can also find municipalities
00:57that are more willing to work with you
00:59when you need to negotiate things like power arrangements
01:02or zoning changes.
01:04While the AI companies are duking it out
01:06to figure out whose model will win,
01:08there are these other companies that see opportunity
01:09just in the build out itself.
01:11There is a huge demand to build data centers
01:13as quickly as they can,
01:14so housing becomes a big bottleneck.
01:17Most of these places that these projects
01:18are getting built now just do not have the infrastructure
01:21that they need for this.
01:23Hotels fill right up.
01:24RV parks are completely full with workers.
01:26All of a sudden, there's a line at the grocery store
01:28at the gas pump.
01:29We have a lot of these sort of single lane county roads,
01:32and they're not built for rows and rows of heavy duty trucks
01:36driving on them all day.
01:37And so you get roads kind of deteriorating.
01:39People are paying thousands of dollars a month
01:41just to rent RV spaces near construction sites.
01:44We're seeing a wide range of companies get into this,
01:46all the way from Wiley locals
01:48that pitch together a little bit of land
01:49and sell the RV spots,
01:51all the way up to major publicly traded corporations
01:53helping house workers.
01:55They've helped with oil and gas and the shale boom.
01:58If you look at it from above,
01:59it looks like an Excel spreadsheet cut out of the middle
02:01of farmland.
02:02You get this paved surface where you have rows and rows
02:05of gray roofs and temporary housing.
02:08They'll have their own toilet or they'll have their own sink.
02:10They always have wifi so that you can make video calls
02:13to family back home.
02:14And then there'll be a shared communal kind of dining setup.
02:17They place so much emphasis on the food,
02:19not only because these guys are working so hard all day
02:21that they need the calories, but also because it's an easy way
02:24to attract workers when there's such competition for them.
02:27We'll also see a lot of amenity space.
02:29These are workers that are spending 15, 16 hours a day
02:32doing manual labor.
02:33You know, I figured when they got home,
02:35they'd want to go to sleep, but apparently they're often gyms
02:37so they can get workouts in.
02:39Employment for construction workers is expected to grow 6%
02:42between 2024 and 2034,
02:45double the projected growth for all jobs,
02:47according to estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
02:49Roles for electricians, a particular bottleneck
02:53for AI construction, are expected to grow by 9% in that time.
02:57There's a lot of hiring now that's happening from veterans
03:00because a lot of these jobs require you to be away from family
03:03in less than ideal conditions for weeks
03:05or even months at a time.
03:07The locals recognize these things contribute a lot
03:10to the property tax base.
03:11They'll donate to the local school districts.
03:13They get very involved in the community.
03:14At the same time, these are people who chose to live
03:17in very rural stretches of the state.
03:19And so they're not used to having to wait in line
03:21to fill up their tank of gas or to get a sandwich at the cafe.
03:24And so there's a lot of frustration now with traffic,
03:27with certain quality of life changes that happen
03:30when you have a project of this scale in your town.
03:32Locals also have some concern that these camps
03:35could become magnets for drug use or crime.
03:37That is a concern among some locals in these towns
03:40because during the shale boom,
03:42when there were a lot of other temporary villages popping up,
03:45that could be an issue.
03:46Mayors are clear-eyed that these are short-term projects.
03:49While these data centers are being built out,
03:51at the end of the day when these projects are done,
03:53these camps will mostly be taken apart.
03:55Some jobs will stick around,
03:56but the vast majority of them will go away.
03:58you
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