In an effort to attract major technological investments, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy has initiated discussions with Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft with the aim of convincing these tech giants to build data centers in the state. Dunleavy is looking to position Alaska as a new epicenter for data centers, highlighting the region’s abundant natural resources, including large amounts of water and available land, as well as cold temperatures that would help reduce cooling costs.
The governor has also toured with executives from Switch, a major data center operator based in Las Vegas, exploring possible locations in Fairbanks and Anchorage. As Dunleavy stated in an interview with Alaska Beacon, Alaska has natural resources that are increasingly scarce in other regions where data centers are located, making it an attractive destination for the tech industry.
“We have more fresh water available than almost any other state,” Dunleavy pointed out. “Plus, we have vast expanses of land.” However, he acknowledged that Alaska faces energy challenges, such as a lack of additional electricity in urban areas, leading authorities to consider developing complementary infrastructures.
A boost for the economy and natural gas
Dunleavy has argued that the arrival of these data centers could not only benefit Alaska’s technological development, but also bolster the economic viability of a long-awaited multi-billion dollar project: a gas pipeline that would connect urban areas of Alaska with the oil fields of North Slope. “We just need a big client or two, and that would be enough,” the governor asserted. This pipeline would help supply energy to the data centers and address energy shortages in the region.
The governor also highlighted that data centers could leverage Alaska’s significant renewable energy sources, such as wind and hydroelectric power, in line with the tech giants’ growing commitments to reduce their carbon emissions. Microsoft, for example, has pledged to be carbon negative by 2030 and is already working on projects like the reactivation of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania to power its cloud computing centers.
A fertile ground for AI and data centers
Alaska, despite its remoteness, has made progress in connectivity with the rest of the United States. Since 2019, the state has had a terrestrial fiber connection, and work to develop new infrastructures continues, such as the Aleutians Fiber network’s new submarine cable project from GCI, which will improve speed and connectivity capacity up to 2.5 Gbps.
The interest from tech companies has been largely driven by the growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and its immense data processing demand. This trend is expected to further increase the need for data center infrastructures. A recent study warns that, without efficiency improvements, AI-supporting data centers could consume up to 25% of the energy in the United States by 2030, a figure six times higher than the current one.
Mixed reactions to the data center push
The governor’s proposal has generated diverse opinions. While some experts, like Antony Scott from the Renewable Energy Alaska project, see the possibility of developing data centers near the North Slope oil fields to leverage natural gas and capture emitted carbon in a positive light, other sectors of society have expressed concerns about using public resources to support unsustainable energy projects.
Natalie Kiley-Bergen from the Alaska Public Interest Research Group noted that, while her organization welcomes industries that do not cause harm in the state, she believes that data centers alone would not justify the construction of the expensive gas pipeline proposed by the government.
A promising yet challenging future
Despite the challenges, Dunleavy remains steadfast in his goal to turn Alaska into a leader in data infrastructure. Ethan Berkowitz, former mayor of Anchorage, pointed out that, while the lack of redundancy in connection cables is a hurdle, the creation of these centers could once again put Alaska at the forefront of the economic and technological landscape of the United States.
“This would put us back in the lead,” Berkowitz stated, highlighting the potential of data centers to create jobs and revitalize the state’s economy.
Looking towards the future, Governor Dunleavy hopes that Alaska’s natural appeal and resources can attract the tech giants and transform the state into a key data center hub in the coming years.
Reference: Alaska Beacon and DataCenterMap