Across the country, governors, regulators, legislators, and local leaders are demanding greater transparency around data center development. Questions about power, water, infrastructure, tax incentives, and community benefits are no longer confined to public hearings. They’re becoming matters of state policy and public debate.

Some in our industry view that shift as a threat. I view it as overdue.

For decades, large-scale infrastructure developers have operated under the assumption that if a project delivers jobs and meaningful tax revenue, community support will follow. That approach no longer works. Communities have learned from experience that growth can create both opportunities and burdens, and they want to understand both sides of the equation before they embrace a project.

That's not opposition. That's accountability. The reality is that the data center industry doesn't have a permitting problem or a communications problem. It has a trust problem.

Too many projects are introduced after key decisions have already been made. Too many developers hide behind confidentiality. Too many communities struggle to find basic information about a proposal that could reshape their local economy, infrastructure, and landscape for decades.

When residents feel like information is being withheld, they assume the worst. And the answer isn't better messaging.

At Rowan, we've believed this from the beginning. Long before transparency became a buzzword, we were sharing information publicly, meeting with neighbors and stakeholders early, identifying community contacts, supporting local initiatives, and creating opportunities for meaningful dialogue before construction begins. We've always believed that secrecy creates friction while transparency creates trust.

That's why we're encouraged by recent actions from policymakers who are asking tougher questions of our industry. They're asking developers to demonstrate how projects will affect water resources, electric infrastructure, ratepayers, and communities. They're asking companies to move beyond promises and provide measurable commitments.

Those expectations should be standard practice.

The best developers have nothing to fear from transparency because transparency validates good projects. It forces developers to explain their assumptions and gives communities confidence that growth is happening with them, not to them.

In September, Rowan announced the largest community investment in our company's short history: a $38 million commitment supporting public water infrastructure and community priorities in Temple, Texas – where we have six data centers at various stages of construction.

What's most important about that investment isn't the dollar amount. It's why the investment happened.

Over more than a year of conversations with local leaders, residents, and stakeholders, the same priorities surfaced repeatedly: water reliability, infrastructure readiness, affordability, and long-term quality of life. Rather than treating those concerns as obstacles to overcome, we viewed them as instructions. If a project is going to benefit a community, the benefits should directly address the priorities that community identifies.

That may sound obvious, but it represents a fundamental shift from how many developers approach community engagement.

Community engagement should influence site selection, infrastructure planning, project design, and investment decisions. It means listening before presenting. Asking before announcing. Learning before defending.

Most importantly, it means accepting the possibility that communities will change your plans. That's not a weakness. And, contrary to what many inside the industry may think, it can actually accelerate projects. At our Bauxite I project in Frederick County, Maryland, feedback received through community engagement helped shape the project design. Rowan added earth berming and vegetative screening along the project’s southwest boundary to further reduce visual and potential sound impacts for nearby residents.

The changes did not alter the project’s core purpose, but they made the design more responsive to the people who would experience it every day – an example of community input translating directly into a better project.

The next decade will bring extraordinary growth for digital infrastructure. AI, cloud computing, and digital transformation are creating demand unlike anything our country has experienced before. But if developers believe increasing demand gives them permission to ignore community concerns, they're misreading the moment entirely.

The communities hosting this infrastructure are becoming more informed, more organized, and more engaged – as they should be. Frankly, having spent much of my career in public policy and advocacy work, having such an engaged electorate at all levels of government is refreshing.

The companies that succeed won't be the ones that secure the most megawatts or acquire the most land. They'll be the ones that build the most trust. Because in the end, trust is becoming the industry's most important permit.

And unlike power, water, or land, it can't be purchased.