What is a Hyperscale AI Data Center and why it matters?

Hyperscale AI Data Centers are not normal Data Centers. They are massive, industrial-scale factory complexes built and operated almost exclusively by the world’s richest tech corporations: Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Meta, and a handful of others. They are designed to run AI supercomputing, which requires far more power, cooling, and infrastructure than traditional data storage facilities.

By definition, a Hyperscale Data Center must include:

• At least 5,000 servers
• At least 10,000 sq ft (many are 200,000–1,000,000 sq ft campuses)
• Hundreds of specialized cooling units, transformers, and backup systems
• Dedicated, reinforced electrical + water infrastructure
• These are industrial sites, not office parks, and they must be built on land that can handle heavy utilities, large buildings, and constant round-the-clock operation

AI data centers rely on GPUs and TPUs, specialized chips that run hotter and draw far more power than standard servers.

This means:

• Extreme heat generation
• Advanced industrial cooling systems, often requiring specialized piping
• Many facilities use millions of gallons of water per day for cooling (even when they claim otherwise, water use often shifts to hidden offsite cooling plants)
• Data centers have routinely denied access to their water usage records, and rather end up in trial than be transparent Stanford University reports

Despite their size, hyperscale campuses are not job creators:

• After construction is finished, most sites employ 30–50 full-time workers, many of whom are specialized technicians brought in from out of state
• Support roles (security, maintenance) are often contracted to national firms, not local residents.
• Automation reduces staffing needs each year

For towns promised “hundreds of jobs,” the data simply does NOT support that.

Hyperscale AI companies are known to deliberately target rural communities because they believe we will trade land, power, and water for promises that do not match the reality. 

Research shows:

Cheaper, more available land:

A qualifying 10,000+ sq ft facility often grows into a 200,000-1,000,000 sq ft campus.  Rural parcels are cheaper, larger, and easier to purchase quietly.

Easier access to huge amounts of power:

AI data centers require 100–300 MW each. Rural utilities are more likely to offer special-rate deals that push costs onto residents.

Less oversight on water + environmental impacts:

Many AI campuses use millions of gallons of water per day. Rural aquifers and ecosystems have weaker monitoring, making extraction easier.

Minimal Local Benefits:

Despite their size, hyperscale facilities employ only 30–50 people after construction—and many are not local.

Corporate Leverage:

More than half of global Hyperscale Centers belong to Amazon, Google, or Microsoft. These corporations negotiate:

• Tax breaks
• TIFs (about Tax Increment Financing)
• Subsidized utility upgrades

Regulatory vulnerability:

Stanford and Lawrence Berkeley Lab note that rural towns have:

• Weaker zoning protections
• Smaller planning departments
• Fewer legal resources
• Lower public awareness
  making them far easier to target.

Once they're in they don't leave:

A Hyperscale AI Data Center almost never remains small. It becomes a multi-phase industrial complex, consuming more power, more water, and more land than initially disclosed.

• They think rural towns won’t push back.
• They think we will sell out our resources for promises they know they don’t have to keep.
• And once we let them in, we can’t get them out.

• Traditional Data Centers (already huge users) averaged 20 MW of power.
• The new generation of AI-powered Hyperscale Data Centers routinely draw: 100–300 MW each (5–15× more than their predecessors)
• Enough to power 50,000–150,000 homes

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory reports that U.S. Data Centers consumed 4.4% of all national electricity in 2022, projected to rise to 6.7–12% by 2028 driven almost entirely by AI hyperscale expansion.

Tech corporations frequently negotiate:

• Tax exemptions or long-term corporate tax holidays
• Discounted utility rates
• Infrastructure upgrades paid by the town or ratepayers
• Special electrical contracts that shift rate burdens to residential customers
• This means higher costs for the community while the corporation receives incentives

Hyperscale Data Centers are designed to scale rapidly, adding more servers, more cooling, and more electrical demand without public review.

This means:

• A “single building” is rarely just one building
• Expansion is built into the business model
• Towns often lose control once the initial approval is granted

Roughly 1,136 Hyperscale Data Centers exist worldwide more than half are owned by just three companies: 

• Amazon 
• Microsoft 
• Google