Why Are There So Many Data Centers in Virginia?

Regional economist João Ferreira from UVA's Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service explains why there are so many data centers in Virginia: "Historically, Virginia became one of the first places where data centers went to locate because data centers wanted at that point to be closer to their clients. And one of the main clients that they have here is the federal government. Also, they want to locate in a place where the internet is super quick. I mean milliseconds like can make a difference when you are basically programing artificial intelligence models, because this will imply that your model can be earlier launched into the market. And Virginia has the best internet connection in the world. Okay? That's where the Atlantic cables end up. That's where the federal government is.There is a lot of redundancy, fiber optics are next to fiber optics to make sure that if there is an issue, that issue doesn't doesn't imply that you get completely dark and without access to internet. And so that's why they're starting to locate here. Then since 2018, 2017 that we have this tax exemption on data centers. And so we start basically exempting companies from building data centers here. And so these are the kind of aspects that make Virginia such an important place for data centers to locate here. You combine this with the energy prices that were also relatively low in Virginia, and you have the perfect equation."