What $10 billion in data centers actually gets you

By Stephan Bisaha,

Adrian Ma, Lilly Quiroz, Kate Concannon

Published April 2, 2025 at 9:25 AM EDT

Attendees view an AI data center at the SK networks stand during the MWC (Mobile World Congress), March 3, 2025.

Billions of tech dollars flowing into a community to build data centers should transform a local economy ... right? Well, maybe not.

On today's episode: Why data centers create few permanent jobs. And why communities might want them anyway.

Related episodes:
Why China's DeepSeek AI is such a big deal (Apple / Spotify)
Is AI overrated? (Apple / Spotify)

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

Tags

NPR Podcasts

Stephan Bisaha

Adrian Ma

Adrian Ma covers work, money and other "business-ish" for NPR's daily economics podcast The Indicator from Planet Money.

Lilly Quiroz

Lilly Quiroz (she/her/ella) is a production assistant for Morning Edition and Up First. She pitches and produces interviews for Morning Edition, and occasionally goes to the dark side to produce the podcast Up First on the overnights.

See stories by Lilly Quiroz

Kate Concannon

Kate Concannon is the Supervising Senior Editor at The Indicator from Planet Money. She leads this small, collaborative team of hosts, reporters and producers in making sense of crucial, but often complex and confusing, economic news in just 10 minutes a day.