Who is Using Data Centers?
In a recent guest column for The Advocate, Pelican Institute CEO Daniel Erspamer outlines the returns on real policy choices from which Louisianans are now benefitting: “Entrepreneurs and innovators who once wrote us off, such as Meta, Hyundai, Amazon, Hut 8, and Applied Digital, are betting more than $100 billion on Louisiana’s future as an energy and data hub.”
The data center projects spread around towns in Louisiana have brought benefits to their respective communities and garnered national attention. While the benefits to local businesses, skilled trade workers, and economies are evident, the impact of these data centers is experienced by all Louisianans, regardless of parish or proximity to one.
Data centers power the features of modern life on which we rely. The majority of hospitals use data centers in some capacity to store highly sensitive information. Banks, also, are increasingly reliant upon data centers as a reliable and secure form of storing information related to transactions. In “For Whom are the Data Centers?” we further unpack how data centers are a crucial element of digital infrastructure. Anyone using an iPhone or an application, most people who are or have been patients at a hospital, and most people with a bank account rely on the services of data centers.
Amazon Web Services is investing $18 billion in a multi-site project across Caddo and Bossier Parish, with a new location announced just this week. The people of Louisiana are no strangers to Amazon. Operating 13 locations across the state, the company employs over 10,000 Louisianans. “According to the Greater Baton Rouge Economic Partnership, the local chamber of commerce, the Amazon distribution center in the former Cortana Mall, located in a once-vibrant retail corridor that was dying before the center facility opened, helped spawn nearly 200 new businesses within a 2-mile radius from 2021 and 2024.” Beyond supporting the workforce of Louisiana through its own operations, Amazon reported that over 22 million items were sold on its platform from Louisiana-based independent sellers. The Amazon data center project in Caddo and Bossier Parish will be used to continue supporting the jobs and platform on which thousands of Louisiana residents rely.
The Hyperion data center in Richland Parish is Meta’s largest data center to date, and represents a more than $50 billion investment. New stories of revitalized infrastructure, bonuses for teachers, workforce scholarships for local students, and local business booms are regular occurrences. Like Amazon, the services supported by Meta’s data center are used around Louisiana. 320,000 businesses in Louisiana maintain a presence on a Meta platform. Among businesses in Louisiana that use Facebook, 97.8% are classified as small to medium businesses. Additionally, in Louisiana, Meta’s advertising technologies are linked to $6.2 billion in gross economic output annually and 39,000 jobs.
The available data about how businesses in Louisiana use Amazon and Meta creates a compelling argument for why the people of Louisiana have a vested interest in the success of these companies’ data centers. Though not publicly available, the numbers surrounding who in Louisiana uses Amazon delivery and other personal services and who uses Meta’s social media platforms for personal accounts is surely staggering.
The billions of dollars technology companies are betting on Louisiana are doing more than just supporting their own product and boosting the communities hosting the data center. The burst of economic activity and job creation following a data center construction announcement will inevitably stabilize, as the data centers become a feature of the areas in which they are built. Yet, the benefits that will persist long after the buzz has died down are found in a galvanized infrastructure powering businesses, local economies, and personal internet use across our state.
