An Inside Look: Abilene Data Center opens doors for facility tour

ABILENE, TX (KTAB/KRBC) – What once started as something you’d likely hear in a science fiction film or novel is now right at the Big Country’s back door. AI has surged forward as the next frontier industry, and journalists from across the nation attended a special event at Abilene’s Stargate facility for a tour and a special Q&A session with industry executives, local and state leadership.

One of the partners with the data center is OpenAI, and CEO Sam Altman spoke to the potential for unforeseen complications within this new industry.

“The history of the arc of society is that technology creates problems. Then technology plus human ingenuity together is how we figure out how to solve them,” Altman said.

Something that has been on the minds of many Abilene residents is the amount of water these centers traditionally use. However, with the Abilene data center using a closed-loop water system, Abilene Mayor Weldon Hurt explained that the water consumption for the new data center is a small percentage compared to the average city use.

“We’re talking about 10 million gallons a year, roughly.  Abilene uses between 21 and 24 million gallons a day for the citizens of Abilene and our wholesale customers,” Hurt explained.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz was also on hand for the event and expanded on the statistics behind the aid this will bring to our area.

“Right here in Abilene, there are, right now, more than 7,000 construction workers on site. Once it’s complete, the campus envisions more than 1,700 jobs on site and thousands more indirect jobs. The projected economic benefit to Abilene is over $1 billion in direct and indirect benefits,” Cruz said.

Oracle, OpenAI, and Softbank additionally announced five new AI data center sites across the U.S. under the Stargate project today, including one in Shackelford County. Combined with the flagship Abilene site, these projects represent more than $400 billion in investment through the next three years.