Latest news with #QuarterlyWorkforceIndicators
Axios
13-03-2025
- Business
- Axios
Tech boom brings data center jobs to Texas
Texas continues to lead the charge in data center employment, with the second-highest number of jobs nationwide, new data shows. Why it matters: Companies, investors and the government are pouring tons of money and resources into data centers to help power AI and other next-gen tech. But there's debate over how many jobs they'll create and whether they're worth the energy required to run them. Driving the news: California, Texas, Florida, New York and Georgia collectively make up more than 40% of U.S. data center employment, per the U.S. Census Bureau's Quarterly Workforce Indicators. At 17%, California has the highest share in the nation, followed by Texas, with 10% (47,856 jobs). By the numbers: Texas has seen a 38% increase in data center jobs from 2018 to 2024. Travis, Dallas, Collin, Harris and Bexar counties accounted for nearly 76% of the state's total data center employment in the second quarter of 2024. Caveat: These numbers include data centers as well as web hosting and a few other related fields. Zoom in: ECL, a data center solutions company, is constructing an $8 billion facility on a 600-plus-acre site east of Houston, Data Center Frontier reported. The first phase could open this summer. Meanwhile, Houston-based NRG Energy is planning to build four natural gas plants to power the state's increase in data center energy demands. Near San Antonio, Microsoft is also building two data center facilities. The $765 million project will span 489,400 square feet, the Express-News reported in February. The big picture: These expansions are in line with the broader surge in data center investments by Big Tech, as the industry faces mounting demand to support AI's growing energy needs, Axios recently reported. The boom has led CPS Energy to invest $1.3 billion to upgrade its infrastructure to meet demand. The bottom line: ERCOT forecasts that electricity demand from major users like data centers will jump nearly 60% from 2024 to 2025.
Axios
13-03-2025
- Business
- Axios
Dallas-Fort Worth data center market to double by 2026
Texas is a leader in data center employment, with the second highest number of jobs nationwide, new data shows. Why it matters: Companies, investors and the government are pouring millions of dollars into data centers to help power AI and other next-gen tech. Texas saw a 38% increase in data center jobs from 2018 to 2024. Zoom in: Travis, Dallas, Collin, Harris and Bexar counties accounted for nearly 76% of the state's total data center employment in the second quarter of 2024. Based on projects under construction, the Dallas-Fort Worth data center market will double by the end of 2026, per a recent CBRE report. Zoom out: D-FW's hold on the data center market is slipping. The region was second to Northern Virginia in market share in 2022. Now Atlanta, Chicago and Phoenix have surpassed D-FW's market share, according to CBRE. The big picture: California, Texas, Florida, New York and Georgia collectively make up more than 40% of U.S. data center employment, per the U.S. Census Bureau's Quarterly Workforce Indicators. At 17%, California has the highest share in the nation, followed by Texas, with 10% (47,856 jobs). Between the lines: There's debate over how many jobs data centers actually create and whether they're worth the energy required to run them. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas forecasts that electricity demand from major users like data centers will jump nearly 60% from 2024 to 2025. The intrigue: Microsoft is addressing its environmental impact. The tech giant recently signed a 25-year deal with Chestnut Carbon to restore 60,000 acres in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana by planting over 35 million trees to offset its carbon emissions.
Axios
11-03-2025
- Business
- Axios
Texas is a data center job hotspot in the tech boom
Texas continues to lead the charge in data center employment, with the second-highest number of jobs nationwide, new data shows. Why it matters: Companies, investors and the government are pouring tons of money and resources into data centers to help power AI and other next-gen tech. But there's debate over how many jobs they'll create and whether they're worth the energy required to run them. Driving the news: California, Texas, Florida, New York and Georgia collectively make up more than 40% of U.S. data center employment, per the U.S. Census Bureau's Quarterly Workforce Indicators. At 17%, California has the highest share in the nation, followed by Texas, with 10% (47,856 jobs). By the numbers: Texas has seen a 38% increase in data center jobs from 2018 to 2024. Travis, Dallas, Collin, Harris and Bexar counties accounted for nearly 76% of the state's total data center employment in the second quarter of 2024. Caveat: These numbers include data centers as well as web hosting and a few other related fields. Zoom in: Microsoft is expanding its Texas data center footprint with two new facilities in Medina County, west of San Antonio. The $765 million project will span 489,400 square feet, the Express-News reported in February. Construction is set to begin in June and finish in July 2027. Another $700 million project, also in Medina, will add 490,000 square feet of data center space. Microsoft also has a cluster of data centers on over 300 acres on the far West Side of San Antonio. The big picture: This expansion is in line with the broader surge in data center investments by Big Tech, as the industry faces mounting demand to support AI's growing energy needs, Axios recently reported. The boom has led CPS Energy to invest $1.3 billion to upgrade its infrastructure to meet demand. ERCOT forecasts that electricity demand from major users like data centers will jump nearly 60% from 2024 to 2025. What to watch: Microsoft is addressing its environmental impact. It recently signed a 25-year deal with Chestnut Carbon to restore 60,000 acres in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana by planting over 35 million trees to offset its carbon emissions.
Axios
13-02-2025
- Business
- Axios
Pennsylvania sees data center job growth
Data center jobs in Pennsylvania increased by more than 48% from 2018 to 2024. Why it matters: Companies, investors and governments are pouring tons of money and resources into data centers to help power AI and other next-gen tech, but there's debate over how many jobs they'll create and whether they're worth the energy required to run them. Zoom out: Arkansas (+241.9%), South Dakota (+179.4%) and Georgia (131.5%) had the biggest increases in data center employment between the first quarters of 2018 and 2024, per the U.S. Census Bureau's Quarterly Workforce Indicators. Ohio had a nearly 56% increase in jobs. Zoom in: Pennsylvania has 71 data centers, according to Data Center Map, about 42% of which are in the Pittsburgh area. Ohio has 175 data centers. Yes, but: The raw job numbers are often relatively small. Pennsylvania had 13,452 data center jobs in Q1 2024. Ohio had 11,791. Arkansas had about 4,300. Georgia had about 25,000. Zoom out: There were about 452,000 data center jobs nationally as of Q1 2024. That's less than half a percent of all U.S. private-sector jobs at the time. Caveat: These numbers include data centers as well as web hosting and a few other related fields. The bottom line: Major tech companies are spending unprecedented amounts of money on data centers, Axios' Michael Flaherty recently reported. But that money may not generate vast employment, unlike other big spending booms. Still, backers hope buildout will attract long-term investment from artificial intelligence and other tech companies.
Axios
30-01-2025
- Business
- Axios
Data center jobs have doubled in Washington state since 2018
Data center jobs in Washington have more than doubled since 2018, with over 23,000 people employed in the industry statewide as of last year, per Census Bureau data. Why it matters: Companies, investors and governments are pouring tons of money and resources into data centers to help power AI and other next-gen tech, but there's debate over how many jobs they'll create and whether they're worth the energy required to run them. By the numbers: Among states, Washington saw the eighth-biggest increase in data center employment between the first quarters of 2018 and 2024, notching 106% growth, per the U.S. Census Bureau's Quarterly Workforce Indicators. These numbers include data centers as well as web hosting and a few other related fields. Reality check: Data center jobs still make up a small sliver of U.S. employment overall. The 452,000 data center jobs recorded nationwide early last year comprised less than half a percent of all U.S. private-sector jobs at that time. Zoom in: Seattle-area companies such as Amazon and Microsoft are among those fueling the data center industry's growth. In Central Washington, Microsoft runs large data centers in Quincy and is adding data centers in East Wenatchee and Malaga, according to its website. State of play: Washington lawmakers passed a tax break in 2010 encouraging data centers to locate here. But the centers are straining electricity resources of some public utilities throughout the state, which may complicate Washington's plans to decarbonize its electrical grid, the Seattle Times and ProPublica reported last year. In Seattle, which is home to several smaller data centers, the amount of power used by the industry has grown fivefold since 2016, per the Times and ProPublica. In 2022, data centers used at least 10% of the city's power, or enough electricity to power roughly 90,000 homes, the news organizations reported. What we're watching: Microsoft expects to spend $80 billion in the 2025 fiscal year building data centers that can handle the demands of AI, vice president and chair Brad Smith wrote in a blog post this month. Amazon, meanwhile, plans to spend $150 billion on data centers over 15 years, Bloomberg reported last spring.
