Alaska’s governor has held talks with Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft in a bid to convince the hyperscalers to build data centers in his state.

Republican governor Mike Dunleavy is apparently keen to position Alaska as a new hub for data centers, and has also accompanied US operator Switch on a tour of the region, checking out potential sites in Fairbanks and Anchorage.

In an interview with the Alaska Beacon, Dunleavy said the state’s abundant natural resources make it an ideal location for data centers, with the cold temperatures minimizing the need for cooling systems.

“We have more available fresh water than just about every other state,” Dunleavy said. “We have copious amounts of land.”

Dunleavy used his interview to suggest data center operators could tap into renewable energy sources if they are based in Alaska, but he also seemingly has less environmentally friendly reasons for wanting to attract big businesses to the state.

The Alaska Beacon report said the arrival of data centers could strengthen the business case for building a natural gas pipeline connecting urban Alaska to the Northern Slope oil field, a project that would cost several billion dollars but which has thus far failed to attract sufficient commercial interest to move forward. While natural gas is less environmentally damaging than other fossil fuels, it generates much higher carbon emissions than renewable energy.

According to Data Center Map, Alaska is currently home to two data centers, the natural gas-powered Far North Digital site in Prudhoe Bay, and a colocation facility in Anchorage run by telco GCI.

Despite its remote location, the state has had a terrestrial fiber connection to the US since 2019 via a cable stretching from North Pole City along the Alaskan highway.

Last December, work began on a cable landing station to bring GCI’s Aleutians Fiber subsea cable network to the state. This will enable residents and businesses to access network speeds of up to 2.5Gbps.