“No one has pulled this off this fast, ever. The state gets it, the leadership gets it, and the ability to execute like this is extraordinary.”
minute read
A massive hyperscale data centre project tied to investor Kevin O’Leary is moving forward in Box Elder County, Utah after receiving approvals from a state military development authority, with final local authorization now the only remaining hurdle, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
The Military Installation Development Authority, known as MIDA, approved multiple steps on Friday to advance the multibillion-dollar development project, which is being pitched as a major economic engine for rural northern Utah. The project is expected to include 2,000 permanent jobs and large-scale infrastructure tied to military installations in the state. It is expected to consume more energy than the entire rest of the state, the Tribune reports.
Box Elder County commissioners had been scheduled to give final approval Friday, but pushed the decision to Monday, after previously saying they had only recently learned details of the proposal. Commissioner Tyler Vincent said during a Wednesday meeting, “I felt like I was drinking out of a fire hose, and trying to digest all of this so quickly.”
The development, led by O’Leary Digital, would span roughly 40,000 acres of private land plus about 1,200 acres of state and federal property, including portions of the Utah Test and Training Range. MIDA officials said the structure requires association with military facilities, including Hill Air Force Base and Utah National Guard sites.
MIDA executive director Paul Morris told the board the project is aimed at attracting a small group of major cloud computing companies. “There’s only five hyperscalers in America, OK, so it’s pretty easy to know who they’re negotiating with,” Morris said. “You can look those up and you know who they’re talking to.” He said that the project would not consumer power off of Utah’s grid, and that any excess power would be sent to the grid.
Amazon, Microsoft and Google are widely considered the dominant hyperscale operators, with Meta and Apple also in the broader category.
O’Leary, speaking remotely to the board, described the pace of development as unusually fast. “I heard about this opportunity just five months ago,” O’Leary said, “No one has pulled this off this fast, ever. The state gets it, the leadership gets it, and the ability to execute like this is extraordinary. I feel like we’ve made it to the Super Bowl together. We haven’t won the game yet, but we’ve all got to execute.”
The projects been structured around major tax incentives. MIDA reduced a standard 6 percent energy tax rate to 0.5 percent for the development in an effort to stay competitive for hyperscaler tenants.
“We want to make sure we don’t strangle the goose that lays the golden egg,” Morris said.
Under the agreement, 80% of certain tax revenue will be returned to the developer, with the remainder split between the state and MIDA. Officials estimate the project could generate about $30 million annually for Box Elder County in early phases and more than $100 million at full buildout.
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