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It's not obvious to me why it would be very beneficial to have a data center close to an Intel plant, but it sounds a bit like it might not be a coincidence tha

It's not obvious to me why it would be very beneficial to have a data center close to an Intel plant, but it sounds a bit like it might not be a coincidence that they're close together. If someone knows why this pairing makes sense, care to explain? (The closest thing I can think of is low delivery costs on electronics, but that seems really tiny compared to basically anything else that matters here, and it's not like they would typically get delivered straight from a plant, so that doesn't seem like it would be it.)

jcims 4y ago
Probably more about utilities/logistics of supporting both plants.
- discodave 4y ago
  To wit: One way you can find Amazon (or other) datacenters on Google maps is to look for the substation next door.
tomschlick 4y ago
Most likely its just that the county officials there are willing to clear red-tape and expedite zoning/permitting/inspection for large corps looking to place high tech jobs there. Possibly negotiate property tax breaks too.
- tersers 4y ago
  This is the simplest and most likely answer, not everything in tech is a big masterminded ploy
- acdha 4y ago
  That would be my assumption as well: they're relatively similar in what they're looking for many of the same things: reasonable prices for land, water, electricity, etc., amenable local government, and reasonable housing + workforce. Intel's going to need more people but otherwise I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that both lists of candidate locations ended up being very similar.
wyldfire 4y ago
Probably useful for Amazon to leverage: * similar subsidies that Intel benefits from * public resources that Intel benefits from * population/education/employees/housing that Intel draws to work there
jonas21 4y ago
It's a coincidence in the sense that there's probably not a particular reason for Amazon to want to be next to Intel. It's not a coincidence in the sense that Ohio recently passed a bunch of tax incentives for building "megaprojects" [1], and New Albany in particular seems to be investing heavily in the infrastructure that would be required for such projects. So it's not surprising they both ended up there. [1] https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/tax/library/ohio-modifies-existing-and-enacts-new-tax-incentive-programs.html https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/tax/library/ohio-modifies... [2] https://spectrumnews1.com/oh/columbus/news/2022/08/04/new-albany-and-morpc-preparing-roads-for-intel- https://spectrumnews1.com/oh/columbus/news/2022/08/04/new-al...
- MuffinFlavored 4y ago
  I wonder where Ohio ranks in terms of "cheapness" to build compared to all 49 other states in the country (even before tax incentives)
virtuallynathan 4y ago
Power availability?
- asdff 4y ago
  Cheap power availability but its mostly natural gas and coal, apparently Ohio is the 4th highest energy consuming state. Sanctified power too, now that the governor signed a bill declaring natural gas is to be considered green energy. https://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=OH https://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=OH https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/01/17/ohio-natural-gas-green-energy/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/01/1...
tpmx 4y ago
I could easily imagine some of those spammy, idiotic and successful youtubers going on and on about how this will enable AWS to much more efficently ship those ~100 gram Intel CPUs from where they are manufactured to where they will be used and thereby gain a decisive competitive advantage.
whalesalad 4y ago
A rising tide lifts all boats. If there is a big tech partner in that particular region, there will be better supporting infra as well (employee base, friendly local municipalities, fiber internet, power infrastructure, etc) plus they can yeet the xeon's over the highway via a pneumatic tube system
nickpeterson 4y ago
I went to high school in New Albany in the early 2000s, it’s crazy to me how developed that whole area has become. Likely to have some big downsides, but tax money isn’t one of them.
MrDunham 4y ago
I moved to Columbus after growing up in the Bay Area ~5 years ago, am friends with the head of economic development, and my wife worked at one of the data centers near Intel. It's hard to describe the sheer amount of land available there within only a 20 minute drive from a top 20 population town. Although I'm still a self-described snobby Californian, there is quite a lot to do here (except skiing and the beach). But to answer your question, that area is: 1. Close to a city (which Meta found out was important because no one wants to live in a place with two restaurants and crap schools) 2. They ran fiber in a 30 mile dia ring around most/the entire city 3. There is water galore 4. There is abundant and cheap electricity 5. There is (decent) access to talent 6. The schools are good and real estate is cheap, so you can import talent (like me and my wife) 7. The governor's office is very business friendly 8. Taxes are low (for everyone, there is talk of going to 0% income tax) So - this isn't really "why does a data center want to be near Intel" and more "there is a lot of assets in the immediate area that makes it wildly attractive to tech and other companies" and Columbus (and New Albany) has been extensively aggressive in getting these projects. Side note, we have: * 3ish AWS data centers (DC) * A Google DC (I think under construction) campus * Two Meta DC campuses (10 500k sq ft buildings built and planned) I don't think Microsoft nor Apple are here... yet. Wife was on DC site selection and nearly always they all end up in each location just down the street from each other. Edit: it's also centrally located and a 12 hr drive to 60+% of the US population. Good for manufacturing and data centers. Also, another poster noted very low natural disasters and seismic activity
- hnburnsy 4y ago
  Doesn't New Albany have an income tax, on top of state and federal taxes, and extra property tax rate to pay for the new infrastructure. Gotta pay for the upkeep on that white fence.
  - MrDunham 4y ago
    They almost certainly have income tax - I can't speak to it though (we chose a different suburb nearby). Many of the cities do have an income tax and property taxes are quite high (I pay $1k/mo on a mid six figure home). The full-load is still ~half of CA though, in my experience
asdff 4y ago
Ohio is positioning itself as a red state that will listen to business interests over most anything. Recently the governor signed a law stating natural gas would be considered green energy in Ohio. This could allow power hungry industry to use cheap gas and tout being 'green,' for example, but it at least signals to industry that the state legislature will pen whatever they dictate and the governor will sign it. 1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/01/17/ohio-natural-gas-green-energy/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/01/1...

jcims 4y ago

Probably more about utilities/logistics of supporting both plants.

discodave 4y ago
To wit: One way you can find Amazon (or other) datacenters on Google maps is to look for the substation next door.

tomschlick 4y ago

Most likely its just that the county officials there are willing to clear red-tape and expedite zoning/permitting/inspection for large corps looking to place high tech jobs there. Possibly negotiate property tax breaks too.

tersers 4y ago
This is the simplest and most likely answer, not everything in tech is a big masterminded ploy
acdha 4y ago
That would be my assumption as well: they're relatively similar in what they're looking for many of the same things: reasonable prices for land, water, electricity, etc., amenable local government, and reasonable housing + workforce. Intel's going to need more people but otherwise I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that both lists of candidate locations ended up being very similar.

wyldfire 4y ago

Probably useful for Amazon to leverage: * similar subsidies that Intel benefits from * public resources that Intel benefits from * population/education/employees/housing that Intel draws to work there

jonas21 4y ago

It's a coincidence in the sense that there's probably not a particular reason for Amazon to want to be next to Intel. It's not a coincidence in the sense that Ohio recently passed a bunch of tax incentives for building "megaprojects" [1], and New Albany in particular seems to be investing heavily in the infrastructure that would be required for such projects. So it's not surprising they both ended up there. [1] https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/tax/library/ohio-modifies-existing-and-enacts-new-tax-incentive-programs.html https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/tax/library/ohio-modifies... [2] https://spectrumnews1.com/oh/columbus/news/2022/08/04/new-albany-and-morpc-preparing-roads-for-intel- https://spectrumnews1.com/oh/columbus/news/2022/08/04/new-al...

MuffinFlavored 4y ago
I wonder where Ohio ranks in terms of "cheapness" to build compared to all 49 other states in the country (even before tax incentives)

virtuallynathan 4y ago

Power availability?

asdff 4y ago
Cheap power availability but its mostly natural gas and coal, apparently Ohio is the 4th highest energy consuming state. Sanctified power too, now that the governor signed a bill declaring natural gas is to be considered green energy. https://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=OH https://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=OH https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/01/17/ohio-natural-gas-green-energy/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/01/1...

tpmx 4y ago

I could easily imagine some of those spammy, idiotic and successful youtubers going on and on about how this will enable AWS to much more efficently ship those ~100 gram Intel CPUs from where they are manufactured to where they will be used and thereby gain a decisive competitive advantage.

whalesalad 4y ago

A rising tide lifts all boats. If there is a big tech partner in that particular region, there will be better supporting infra as well (employee base, friendly local municipalities, fiber internet, power infrastructure, etc) plus they can yeet the xeon's over the highway via a pneumatic tube system

nickpeterson 4y ago

I went to high school in New Albany in the early 2000s, it’s crazy to me how developed that whole area has become. Likely to have some big downsides, but tax money isn’t one of them.

MrDunham 4y ago

I moved to Columbus after growing up in the Bay Area ~5 years ago, am friends with the head of economic development, and my wife worked at one of the data centers near Intel. It's hard to describe the sheer amount of land available there within only a 20 minute drive from a top 20 population town. Although I'm still a self-described snobby Californian, there is quite a lot to do here (except skiing and the beach). But to answer your question, that area is: 1. Close to a city (which Meta found out was important because no one wants to live in a place with two restaurants and crap schools) 2. They ran fiber in a 30 mile dia ring around most/the entire city 3. There is water galore 4. There is abundant and cheap electricity 5. There is (decent) access to talent 6. The schools are good and real estate is cheap, so you can import talent (like me and my wife) 7. The governor's office is very business friendly 8. Taxes are low (for everyone, there is talk of going to 0% income tax) So - this isn't really "why does a data center want to be near Intel" and more "there is a lot of assets in the immediate area that makes it wildly attractive to tech and other companies" and Columbus (and New Albany) has been extensively aggressive in getting these projects. Side note, we have: * 3ish AWS data centers (DC) * A Google DC (I think under construction) campus * Two Meta DC campuses (10 500k sq ft buildings built and planned) I don't think Microsoft nor Apple are here... yet. Wife was on DC site selection and nearly always they all end up in each location just down the street from each other. Edit: it's also centrally located and a 12 hr drive to 60+% of the US population. Good for manufacturing and data centers. Also, another poster noted very low natural disasters and seismic activity

hnburnsy 4y ago
Doesn't New Albany have an income tax, on top of state and federal taxes, and extra property tax rate to pay for the new infrastructure. Gotta pay for the upkeep on that white fence.
- MrDunham 4y ago
  They almost certainly have income tax - I can't speak to it though (we chose a different suburb nearby). Many of the cities do have an income tax and property taxes are quite high (I pay $1k/mo on a mid six figure home). The full-load is still ~half of CA though, in my experience

asdff 4y ago

Ohio is positioning itself as a red state that will listen to business interests over most anything. Recently the governor signed a law stating natural gas would be considered green energy in Ohio. This could allow power hungry industry to use cheap gas and tout being 'green,' for example, but it at least signals to industry that the state legislature will pen whatever they dictate and the governor will sign it. 1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/01/17/ohio-natural-gas-green-energy/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/01/1...