LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Whenever a new innovation starts to emerge, it takes time to fully understand the scope of how it can impact us.
As artificial intelligence becomes more of a presence in our day-to-day lives, those who represent the public are taking a closer look.
The Texas Tribune moderated “A Local Conversation on Data Centers” on the Texas Tech campus, Friday. It featured Texas Tech Chancellor Brandon Creighton, former Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, CEO of the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance John Osborne, and Google representative Chris Matos.
Creighton says the university he resides over is looking at how it can play a big role in artificial intelligence as it continues to evolve.
“Out of all the projects announced in the country, the largest are right here in west Texas,” Creighton said, “and it just makes sense for Texas Tech not just to follow, but to lead as a sovereign university entity involved in the future of what A.I. will mean to our economies and the evolving nature of how it touches every different discipline that is taught here, and the workforce side of it as well.”
There’s some who feel Texas Tech and Lubbock don’t need to be a part of the conversations. Protesters gathered outside the event to voice their displeasure, saying these officials need a solid plan in place if a data center were to break ground here.
“It’s really important that people know so they can voice their opinion on this,” Stephen Sanders said. “It’s not a good time and we don’t have enough information about it for us to make a decision like that. I think the city owes the people of Lubbock the opportunity to make a decision.”
Concerns loom over what a centralized facility in Lubbock would need. A chief concern is a water supply capable of keeping the machinery cool. Osborne says cooperation is a top priority.
“There’s been over a dozen prospects that total roughly $25 billion,” Osborne said. “If they all came, roughly nine to ten thousand jobs if they all came, that we have not gone after because they use too much water.”
Another top concern is how much electricity one would need to operate. Bush says there’s law in place for outside companies wanting to come in and use that energy.
“Anybody asking for 75 megawatts from the ERCOT grid must pay $50,000 per megawatt to get in the cue,” Bush said. “They must show a letter of credit, financial stability, and they must also agree that during emergency conditions that they have to contribute requested load from ERCOT back to the grid. The idea here is for whether its data centers or bitcoin miners that if they come to Texas, they essentially have to bring their own power.”
There are no firm plans for a data center in Lubbock as of right now. These officials are continuing to look at all the possible factors and they say it takes conversations like these to push towards a better future for the hub city.
“So much of this is demanding accountability for making the right decisions,” Creighton said, “and that might be relayed sometimes as fear, but really it’s just accountability that decision makers will be held responsible for making the best decisions for this state, our national resources, and certainly what education provides to our future workforce. Instead of leaving you to wonder or read about it without it coming direct from a decision maker, I think is a high value. I would just commend everyone up here for offering their time to be here on campus today.”
Google sponsored this local conversation and its representative said it wants to cooperate. It told its shareholders earlier this year it expects to invest nearly $200 billion in capital projects, including hardware, networking, and data centers, all for growing its “Gemini” A.I. product.
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