DRN (Ellendale, N.D.) has worked closely with Applied Digital, a data center company, to construct a facility in Ellendale. Applied Digital is in phase two of building a data center capable of supporting AI and high-performance computing — a project that has created nearly 1,000 construction jobs in the area and is estimated to establish up to 400 jobs to run the data center once the construction is complete.
Beyond those jobs, the tangential economic impact cannot be overstated. Some workers are housed locally in fully occupied apartments and hotels. Both those workers and the commuters contribute to the local economy when they purchase gas or meals at new restaurants and at prior establishments that weren’t full before. The data center has or will drive the need for more school seats, a daycare, a new apartment building, a 20-home development and more.
“With any change this big, you are likely to experience some growing pains: locals questioning whether they want this sort of industry coming to our lovely quiet area,” said Kent Schimke, CEO of DRN. “But the truth is that before the data center, the community was declining. And now, the economic development that the data center and broadband have delivered is a huge positive for the area. We are embracing the progress, and if we don’t, we get left behind.”
DRN isn’t the only broadband provider experiencing the benefits of big tech coming to their community. The Wall Street Journal just published, “The AI Data-Center Boom is coming to America’s Heartland,” which details how tech companies are out in force, “scouring” rural America for places to build the facilities they need. The economic opportunities to leverage your fiber network are plentiful, and in the process, to revitalize the economic landscape of your communities.