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The following content is from an older version of this website, and may not display correctly. Wyoming is being lured by the prospect of mega-data center business, and as a result its governor Dave Freudenthal is willing to dangle a US$14.5m carrot for data center operators wishing to locate there.
The funding is money left over from its flood recovery aid, according to reports.
The US state's local newspaper, the Billings Gazette, reported this week that Freudenthal had written a letter to chairs of the Wyoming Legislature Joint Appropriations Committee requesting approval for the funds to be used outside of its original intention as part of a "general fund".
According to the report, two mega data centers have already been considering Wyoming as a home and the funds, according to Freudenthal, could be used to further sway their judgement.
"We're in a good position to attract these facilities because of our resources like abundant, low-cost power and the Wyoming climate with its low humidity and low temperatures, but that's just not enough," Freudenthal was quoted as saying in the report.
"This funding will make Wyoming more competitive and improve our position as we compete to recruit mega-data centers to the state."
Data centers are becoming big business for US states looking to boost incoming revenues. The creation of mega data centers can encourage construction and other jobs in the short term, and while tax breaks and infrastructure incentives are often offered by states, the long-term affect can be increased revenue, and often power fed back to the grid.
Wyoming is the tenth largest US state by area but has the lowest population, with 544,270 people according to 2009 counts.
Earlier this year it was reported that Wyoming was being considered for a US$750m data center being constructed by an unnamed company. In 2007 a 1,000 sq ft wind- and solar-powered data center was constructed in Cheyenne and next year a supercomputing center is expected to open in the stateÔÇô the NCAR Wyoming Supercomputing Center, which will be used for geosciences and atmospheric science.
The Billings Gazette report also quoted Governor-elect Matt Mead, who said he supported Freudenthal's move, saying it would allow Wyoming to diversify its economy.
"In the last month, I have been meeting with data center companies in an attempt to bring them to Wyoming," Mead said.
"The $14.5 million will be useful as a recruiting tool to land data centers. The opportunity to diversify our economy through data centers is one of my top priorities. This money will help this effort."
The Wyoming Business Council brought in its own Data Center Legislation which offers reduced utility costs for managed data centers of sufficient redundancy. It says this is in return for the business being constructed in a way that will have direct benefits to the community and economic development there.