Ohio suspends data center tax break amid rising costs and community opposition over AI infrastructure
By
Marc Levy
Crackling crust, pillowy middle. The kind of bagel that earns a second cup of coffee.
Summary
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has suspended a tax break for data centers that was critical to attracting AI infrastructure to the state. The tax break's cost had skyrocketed far beyond projections, and opposition to data centers has been growing across Ohio communities. The move comes amid pressure on the industry to pay full costs for the energy-hungry computing warehouses needed to power AI. Lawmakers have formed a committee to study the impact, and DeWine's office cited rising utilization of the tax break and the legislature's new research as reasons for the pause.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledOhio, one of the nation's data center destination hot spots, is suspending a tax break that has been critical to its competition with other states to attract the massive new facilities that power and train artificial intelligence chatbots.
The move by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine comes as the industry is under pressure to pay the full costs of the vast network of its computing warehouses needed to power AI.
The size of Ohio's tax break skyrocketed, dwarfing previous projections, as opposition to data centers is sweeping through cities, suburbs and towns there.
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