On Monday, August 17, OpenAI signed a 20-year lease agreement for a data center in the small southern Ohio town of Piketon, population 2,300. Piketon is roughly 50 miles south of Columbus, and its data center will likely be the largest in the world.
The 10-gigawatt facility will consume enough electricity to power seven million homes. Given the growth of “no data centers in my backyard” populist backlash, one might expect a deal this size to have spurred mass opposition from local residents. However, when Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick declared the Piketon project “the largest bet on a construction facility ever made in history,” Ohioans readily “embraced” or “welcomed” the development.
Why?
