To backers of a measure offering tax credits to the centers that house computers storing and processing data, it’s a start to making the state competitive in attracting high-tech industry and overcoming years of low-wage job creation.
“I’m just enormously pleased we’ve gotten focused on this,” said
Opponents call it corporate welfare that provides overly-generous tax breaks.
“We are gathered here to try to lure an industry to
Legislation overwhelmingly passed the
The bill authorizes the state
A data center’s owner must spend at least $50 million to qualify if the center is in a federal opportunity zone or an enterprise zone and $200 million if it is built elsewhere.
Supporters say data centers could be used to attract the financial services industry that handles trades once confined to the floors of stock exchanges but are now made online.
To organize support for data centers, Lamont turned to his economic development commissioner,
The Lamont administration began talking in 2019 with representatives of MEMX, a member-owned equities trading platform, about bringing trading business to data centers in
Pushing back against criticism of data centers’ consumption of electricity, Lehman said major companies with data centers are increasingly looking to use zero- or low-carbon energy. Connecticut’s grid, with a large nuclear power component and agreements for future offshore wind, “would bestow (on) Connecticut...substantial new economic activity,” he said.
Carstensen blamed “some ill-informed environmentalists” who believe data centers increase demand for fossil-fuel electricity.
“They are wrong—because no industry is more committed of green energy than data centers; big tech already buys millions and millions of carbon credits,” he said.
For users of data, such as academic researchers, the proximity of a center could be an advantage, said
“Nearby may help me. I can get in and out faster on networks dedicated to me,” said Peters, who says his views do not reflect UConn or the local
Low overhead and local control also are advantages to a data center close by, he said. Data centers in other countries are governed by local laws such as those related to copyright protection, he said.
However, local centers are usually less disaster proof, jeopardizing data in floods or earthquakes, Peters said.
Supporters are promoting data centers as engines of high-paid job growth, disputing critics such as Sen. Alex Kassser, D-
A
“As a result, we are not competitive, losing out on hundreds of millions of dollars in direct investment and thousands of jobs that are being created in other regions,” he said.
That’s a key argument by backers who point to years of lackluster job growth in
Data centers employ top-paid engineering and other jobs that could help
“The last thing
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