A data center company is betting that community investment — not just tax incentives — is the key to winning local support as the artificial intelligence boom drives a nationwide buildout of massive computing facilities. Compass Datacenters CEO Chris Crosby said his firm deliberately integrates into the towns where it builds, identifying local needs and funding projects that residents can see and use.
Speaking about the company's hyperscale campus in Red Oak, Texas, a town of roughly 20,000 people about 20 miles south of Dallas, Crosby said the approach starts with a simple question: «Do you need a fire truck? Do you need a new school? Do you need baseball fields for your community?» He described those as «important capital investments that can really boost a community,» adding that more towns should ask for them.
In Red Oak, Compass donated $15 million to build an animal shelter after the SPCA ended its contract in the town last year, according to Crosby. The company also partnered with Texas State Technical College on a $12.6 million training facility that expands the school's Mechanical, Electrical and IT Data Center Pathway program. The 12-week course is designed to prepare people without prior qualifications for skilled trades and technical careers that data centers depend on, including electricians, mechanics and technicians, as well as construction trades such as carpentry, welding and concrete work.
«We can't get enough people into this career,» Crosby said, arguing that the push for four-year degrees had unfairly diminished blue-collar work. «I am tired of the elitism that this doesn't create jobs,» he added, pointing to the roughly 900 people who work on the Red Oak campus — about 600 for Compass and 300 for Schneider Electric — plus thousands of construction workers employed on the project over the past five years.
Compass began developing the Red Oak campus in 2019. It now includes 10 data center buildings, a Schneider Electric manufacturing facility and the training center. The company is headquartered in Loudoun County, Virginia, widely considered the nation's data center capital.
The investments come as data centers face growing scrutiny nationwide over their electricity and water consumption and the strain they can place on local infrastructure. Crosby said Compass has never used water to cool its data centers since the company began operating, a decision he described as both personal and practical. «I grew up in North Texas. I know water is a precious resource,» he said. At Red Oak, water is used only for bathrooms, and the facility relies on a hybrid cooling system that can operate with air or liquid cooling. Crosby acknowledged that avoiding water cooling can reduce efficiency but said he considers the trade-off worthwhile.
Power demand is another flashpoint as data centers add load to the grid. Crosby said Compass prefers connecting to the grid and believes data center companies can help pay for transmission and generation upgrades through co-investment. He also said facilities can help reduce peak demand and grid congestion by adjusting when they draw power. At Red Oak, Compass donated seven parcels to the transmission provider so power lines could be routed without using eminent domain.
Crosby said the company works to control noise and light pollution and to meet Environmental Protection Agency noise limits at the property line. «It's very important to be a quiet neighbor — no noise, no light pollution, and, of course, taking care of the precious resources that are there in that community,» he said.
The debate over data centers is intensifying as the AI boom accelerates capital spending on computing infrastructure. Industry watchers have compared the scale of the current investment wave to earlier economic shocks that reshaped labor markets and trade. For communities, the question is whether the jobs, tax revenue and local projects that companies like Compass promise will outweigh the demands on power, water and land.
Crosby's answer is that durability requires partnership. «When you think about durability and putting a hundred-year-type asset into a community, you better do that really well and in conjunction with that community,» he said.