Data centers are coming for rural America

A striking development has emerged in artificial intelligence. AI AIPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. FollowSee All AI Report ReportPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. FollowSee All Report Science SciencePosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

FollowSee All ScienceData centers are coming for rural AmericaAnd the jobs they promise don’t really exist. by Abigail Bassett Abigail BassettFreelancerPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. FollowSee All by Abigail BassettMay 13, 2026, 9:00 AM UTC Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images AI AIPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

Technical Details

FollowSee All AI Report ReportPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. FollowSee All Report Science SciencePosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. FollowSee All ScienceData centers are coming for rural AmericaAnd the jobs they promise don’t really exist.

by Abigail Bassett Abigail BassettFreelancerPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. FollowSee All by Abigail BassettMay 13, 2026, 9:00 AM UTC Part OfAll the latest updates on AI data centerssee all updates At its peak, the Androscoggin paper mill in Jay, Maine, a rural town about 67 miles northwest of Portland, employed about 1,500 people — until a pulp digester exploded in 2020, forcing the mill to close permanently. 4 million-square-foot facility was purchased through a joint venture by JGT2 Redevelopment and a number of other holding and capital companies.

The project is led by developer Tony McDonald. Over the next three years, McDonald and his team broke down the mill’s machinery and shipped it to Pakistan, and worked to clean up the industrial site for resale. That resale agreement was finalized earlier this year, according to McDonald — turning Jay into the latest flashpoint over giant data centers in America.

Industry Implications

Maine is particularly appealing for data center developers for its relatively cool year-round temperatures, lax land-use statutes, and 54 percent renewable energy mix, the eighth highest in the nation. There is a handful of planned data centers around the state, which recently prompted the state legislature to pass a bill ordering an 18-month moratorium on permits and building of any proposed data center that consumes more than 20 megawatts of power. Lawmakers wanted to pause construction in order to study data centers’ impact on local economies, the power grid, and the environment.

But that bill, which would have been the country’s first, was vetoed by Maine Gov. Janet Mills last month. In her veto, she cited one overriding reason: jobs.

This advance offers important signals about the future of the sector, and the tech world is watching closely.