Why are so many data centers popping up in Georgia?
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
GUEST COLUMNIST
Some of the most significant innovations in technology have become common to the point of monotony in only a few decades. It’s easy to take daily actions like texting, streaming movies and shows and using apps on our smartphones for granted, but almost all online activity taps into a vast infrastructure of data in order to operate the way consumers have come to expect.
While this infrastructure is invisible, it does have a physical home. Data centers are facilities filled with thousands of computers that work constantly to store and process information. They are also rapidly becoming an immediate and critical question of public policy. As data usage increases – and as new technologies require more data to operate – demand for the construction and maintenance of data centers is on the rise.
As many have noticed, Georgia is a hub for data centers, which are essential to the expanding infrastructure of technology. However, data centers require no small amount of space and natural resources to operate. This often leads to difficult trade-offs between competing interests.
Mid-size data centers can range from 20,000 to 100,000 square feet, but larger hyperscale centers, such as Google’s in Douglas County, can take up over a million square feet. Their servers require electricity and cooling to operate, just like a personal computer but on a much larger scale. This means massive air conditioning, ventilation and liquid cooling systems to prevent overheating. They also require a power structure that can deliver uninterrupted electricity.
These hefty land, water and power requirements lead to important policy questions and trade-offs for Georgians as data centers grow as an industry in the state. There are over 50 major data centers in Georgia operated by leading global companies and dozens more smaller facilities. The state has seen rapid growth in recent years, but this is relatively less infrastructure than, for example, California and Texas, which host over three times the number of centers as Georgia. Georgia is also behind states like Virginia in capacity in terms of scale and power usage.
Georgia is one of many states that have utilized incentives like tax breaks and the easing of regulatory burdens to attract data centers in recent years. They require large capital investments to construct, including the purchasing of necessary land, construction contracts, power infrastructure and maintenance. Meta, for example, invested over $1 billion into its data center campus in Newton County, much of which went to construction jobs and other infrastructure upgrades that involved local contracts and suppliers.
Data centers also lay a foundation to attract tech companies to operate in a region. Georgia’s expanding network of data infrastructure has helped to facilitate the state’s emergence as a tech hub. With companies like Google and Meta laying down infrastructure, Georgia has become an attractive destination to startups and established tech companies alike.
The potential for large scale investment, recurring infrastructure improvements and the facilitation of a broader tech ecosystem in turn cause regions to compete for data centers – and this is not to mention the necessity for new centers. If data centers stopped growing while our digital demand kept accelerating, the internet would become slower, less safe and reliable and more expensive.
These problems would be compounded by the rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence. We now see more data centers specifically designed to support AI. Training and running AI models takes a considerable amount of power and computing resources, and AI data centers are designed to handle those levels of computation with specialized hardware and advanced cooling systems.
Georgia now finds itself at a public policy crossroads in deciding how to deal with data centers. Lawmakers and stakeholders are balancing economic growth and tech stability with trade-offs like environmental sustainability and how (and whether) to incentivize construction. Many communities across Georgia have also witnessed contentious rezoning debates over land development framed as an either/or: new housing or a new data center.
As more data centers are constructed across the state, Georgians will have a heightened awareness of the decisions on the table. For example, while data centers bring investment and signal tech sector growth, questions have been raised about how much direct, long-term employment they actually provide. Considering questions like this in light of the tax incentives used to attract them has already led some lawmakers to assert that Georgians are not getting a fair return.
Regulators and lawmakers have also addressed concerns about cost allocation. Earlier in 2025, the Georgia Public Service Commission approved changes to Georgia Power’s rules and contract provisions in an effort to ensure data centers pay for their share of energy use, and that costs will not be passed down to other consumers. A Senate bill was introduced in this year’s session with a similar goal.
The progression of how Georgia approaches energy policy with the continuing growth of the data center industry will be closely scrutinized. We can hope that the needs of all Georgians will be accounted for as decision makers endeavor to deliberately manage long-term impact and sustainability.
J.Thomas Perdue is a Policy Analyst at the Georgia Public Policy Foundation.
