President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that Oklahoma will be getting some new data centers.
Speaking to the press from Mar-a-Lago in Florida, Trump named Oklahoma among seven other states that will benefit from a $20 billion foreign investment meant to boost artificial intelligence and cloud technology. He promised to nix troublesome environmental policy.
“I’ve been a victim of that myself over the years, and I think I know all the games and all the tricks that are played, and much of it is just done to stop progress,” said Trump.
Data centers use a lot of resources, like electricity and water. A recent proposal for a similar facility in east Tulsa would require a maximum of 1 billion gallons of water annually.
Emirati billionaire Hussain Sajwani, who chairs Dubai developer DAMAC, is behind the investment. He said at the press conference he hoped for Trump’s reelection.
“We’ve been waiting four years to increase our investments in U.S. to very large amount of money,” said Sajwani.
Texas, Arizona, Louisiana, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan and Indiana will also see investments from Sajwani.
Details around where such centers might be built are vague. Governor Kevin Stitt’s office referred Public Radio Tulsa to the state Department of Commerce. Executive Director Evan Brown issued a general statement:
“We are excited to see Oklahoma on the national and international stage following President Trump’s announcement. If you look at Google in Pryor and Polaris in Muskogee, we’ve already had great success with data centers. We are also the most business-friendly state in the country, with some of the cheapest energy costs in the nation. Oklahoma is uniquely positioned to be the perfect partner for this type of investment.”
