The state is well-positioned to capitalize on the unprecedented demand driven by artificial intelligence.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month establishing the “Genesis Mission,” a dedicated national effort to unleash a new age of AI-accelerated innovation and discovery that can solve the most challenging problems of this century. It’s a mission similar to the Apollo project in vision and scope.
The White House is working to ensure that America maintains its economic strength, national security and global influence. A critical element of that is winning the AI race against China. To that end, the plan, which includes accelerating innovation and discovery and building the infrastructure needed to power AI. This includes the construction of hyperscale data centers and the development of new sources of energy to meet their power needs.
Just like Florida served as the launch site for historic missions like Apollo during the great Space Race in the 1960s, Florida stands ready to power the AI revolution of the 21st century. We should roll out the welcome mat for hyperscale data centers to come to Florida – not just for the importance of our national mission, but also for the multitude of benefits they can bring to our communities.
A recent economic impact study concluded that Florida is well-positioned to capitalize on the unprecedented demand driven by artificial intelligence, cloud computing and digital services. The introduction of hyperscale data centers can transform communities with new jobs, sustained economic impact and significant tax revenue that can be reinvested in law enforcement, education and transportation infrastructure.
In fact, economists predict that the construction of a one-gigawatt data center can infuse $3.3 billion in economic impact to the region. That includes more than 45,000 temporary jobs, $2.4 billion in earnings, and more than $176 million in state and local tax revenue. Long after the project is completed, the community will continue to benefit with a forecasted annual economic impact of $263 million, as well as $406 million in state and local tax revenues each year.