Rural Data Centers Are in for a Big Federal Tax Break
Rural Data Centers Are in for a Big Federal Tax Break
乡村数据中心即将迎来重大利好：联邦税收减免
On January 1, a new tax windfall will kick in that could benefit scores of rural data center projects—all thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 从1月1日起，一项新的税收红利将正式生效，这得益于《一个美好大账单法案》（One Big Beautiful Bill Act），该法案将使众多乡村数据中心项目受益。
Starting next year, projects sited in tracts of rural land across the country will be newly eligible for a set of specific corporate tax benefits under a program expanded by the bill. The new rules “may significantly lower barriers for large-scale, capital-intensive projects in rural areas—most notably hyperscale data centers,” said a statement from Ways and Means Committee chair Jason Smith last year. “The economic case for building data centers in designated rural opportunity zones becomes far more compelling” with the new program, he continued. 从明年开始，位于全国乡村地区的项目将有资格根据该法案扩展的计划，获得一系列特定的企业税收优惠。众议院筹款委员会主席杰森·史密斯（Jason Smith）去年在一份声明中表示，新规“可能会显著降低乡村地区大型资本密集型项目的门槛，尤其是超大规模数据中心”。他补充道，有了这项新计划，“在指定的乡村机会区（Opportunity Zones）建设数据中心的经济理由将变得更具吸引力”。
But experts warn that the results for rural communities could be mixed. “Right now, the only requirement to get the benefits is capital investment,” says Emily Kraschel, a tax policy analyst at the Searchlight Institute, a public policy think tank. “However, that doesn’t guarantee that that money is necessarily creating jobs or creating a local economic boost. You’d be more sure of that with a more traditional factory that requires lots of workers. But with a data center, that assumption goes a little wonky.” 但专家警告称，这对乡村社区的影响可能是喜忧参半的。公共政策智库 Searchlight Institute 的税务政策分析师艾米丽·克拉舍尔（Emily Kraschel）表示：“目前，获得这些优惠的唯一要求是资本投资。然而，这并不能保证这些资金一定会创造就业机会或带动当地经济增长。如果是需要大量工人的传统工厂，这种带动作用会更确定，但对于数据中心来说，这种假设就显得有些站不住脚了。”
During the first Trump administration, a bipartisan group of lawmakers proposed the creation of the opportunity zone program, which offers tax benefits for companies that choose to build projects in certain low-income census tracts. Last year, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act made a number of changes to open up the program in order to attract more investment to rural areas. 在特朗普第一任期内，一个两党议员小组提议设立“机会区”计划，为选择在特定低收入普查区建设项目的公司提供税收优惠。去年，《一个美好大账单法案》对该计划进行了一系列修订，旨在吸引更多投资进入乡村地区。
Kraschel and her colleagues from Searchlight have been researching data center projects that might qualify for these tax benefits, comparing the locations of data center projects in development with rural census tracts eligible for the new program. WIRED exclusively reviewed the research compiled by Searchlight and found more than 100 data centers under various stages of development in rural areas that could be eligible. 克拉舍尔和她在 Searchlight 的同事一直在研究可能符合这些税收优惠条件的数据中心项目，将正在开发的数据中心选址与符合新计划的乡村普查区进行了对比。《连线》（WIRED）独家查阅了 Searchlight 汇编的研究报告，发现乡村地区有超过 100 个处于不同开发阶段的数据中心可能符合条件。
Searchlight used a very conservative database of under 700 data center projects that are planned or under construction to compile its research; other datasets put the number of data centers in development in the US at closer to 1,500. It’s very likely that the number of newly eligible projects is bigger, especially since more data centers are decamping from urban areas. Separate research from Pew found that while just 13 percent of operating data centers are located in rural areas, a majority of planned facilities—around 67 percent—are going rural. Searchlight 在汇编研究时使用了一个非常保守的数据库，仅涵盖了不到 700 个已规划或在建的数据中心项目；而其他数据集显示，美国在建的数据中心数量接近 1,500 个。新符合条件的项目数量很可能更多，尤其是考虑到越来越多的数据中心正在从城市地区撤出。皮尤研究中心（Pew）的另一项研究发现，虽然目前仅有 13% 的运营中数据中心位于乡村地区，但大多数计划中的设施（约 67%）正转向乡村。
Searchlight’s research comes as the backlash against data centers—including from rural and GOP voters—is reaching a fever pitch. Tax breaks for data centers being built by some of the most powerful companies in the world have become a flashpoint in these debates: Amazon recently made headlines for attempting to negotiate for a lower tax bill on one of dozens of data centers it plans to open in Mississippi, while The New York Times reported last week that Meta is writing off data center equipment under a federal tax break intended for research and experimentation. Searchlight 的这项研究发布之际，针对数据中心的抵制情绪（包括来自乡村地区和共和党选民的抵制）正达到白热化。全球最具实力的公司所建设的数据中心获得的税收减免，已成为这些辩论的焦点：亚马逊最近因试图为其计划在密西西比州开设的数十个数据中心之一协商减税而登上头条；而《纽约时报》上周报道称，Meta 正在利用一项旨在鼓励研究和实验的联邦税收减免政策，对数据中心设备进行核销。
In the scramble to try to regulate the industry, the opportunity zones aren’t going unnoticed. Last month, Senator Josh Hawley introduced legislation that would eliminate opportunity zone funding for data centers, claiming that he would help “ensure Big Tech companies don’t get tax breaks to build data centers on farmland.” 在各方争相监管该行业之际，“机会区”政策也受到了关注。上个月，参议员乔什·霍利（Josh Hawley）提出了一项立法，旨在取消数据中心的机会区资金支持，他声称这将有助于“确保大型科技公司不会通过在农田上建设数据中心来获取税收减免”。
A project simply existing in a rural opportunity zone doesn’t mean the company automatically will get the tax benefits; the company has to create a specialized investment vehicle to kickstart the process. Because the tax break can be considered confidential IRS data, it’s next to impossible to know which companies are pursuing the benefits unless they voluntarily disclose. 仅仅位于乡村机会区并不意味着公司会自动获得税收优惠；公司必须创建一个专门的投资工具来启动这一流程。由于税收减免可能被视为美国国税局（IRS）的机密数据，除非公司主动披露，否则几乎不可能知道哪些公司正在寻求这些优惠。
The research Searchlight compiled shows some big names that could stand to benefit from the program. But high-profile tech companies, when contacted for comment on the program, seemed eager to distance themselves from yet another tax break story. WIRED reached out to Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, all of which are developing data centers in areas that could be eligible for the new program, to ask about their plans to take the tax benefits. Searchlight 汇编的研究显示，一些大公司可能会从该计划中受益。但当被问及对该计划的看法时，这些知名科技公司似乎急于与又一桩“税收减免”新闻撇清关系。《连线》联系了 Meta、亚马逊、微软和谷歌，询问它们是否有计划利用这些税收优惠，因为它们都在可能符合新计划条件的地区开发数据中心。
Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon all denied using the program. In a statement, Microsoft’s general counsel of infrastructure legal affairs, Rima Alaily, told WIRED that the company “does not use the opportunity zone program to invest in the purchase or construction of its data centers.” Similarly, Amazon spokesperson Julia Lawless said the company “does not actively seek out” land in opportunity zones for development, and that it has not claimed the tax benefit for its projects. 微软、Meta 和亚马逊均否认使用了该计划。微软基础设施法律事务总法律顾问 Rima Alaily 在一份声明中告诉《连线》，该公司“不会利用机会区计划来投资购买或建设其数据中心”。同样，亚马逊发言人朱莉娅·劳利斯（Julia Lawless）表示，该公司“不会主动寻找”机会区内的土地进行开发，也没有为其项目申请过此类税收优惠。
“If we locate in one of these areas, it’s because our site selection criteria—from available land to access to talent—aligns with tracts that governments across all levels have previously identified for economic development; not because we utilized the OZ benefit,” says Lawless. “We have not used this program for our site selection and have no plans to add it to our criteria for our future decisionmaking process.” Google did not respond. “如果我们选址在这些地区，是因为我们的选址标准——从可用土地到人才获取——与各级政府此前确定的经济开发区相吻合，而不是因为我们利用了机会区优惠，”劳利斯说。“我们没有将该计划用于选址，也没有计划将其加入我们未来的决策标准中。”谷歌未予置评。
There are many reasons why data center builders may be choosing rural areas, from moving away from community opposition to pursuing cheaper land. But it’s not out of the question that companies with lower corporate profiles than Microsoft or Amazon developing data centers may choose to opt in to tax benefits. Nathan Jensen, a government professor at the University of Texas-Austin, says that he would be “very surprised” if some companies were not considering siting in rural areas specifically to take advantage of these tax breaks. 数据中心建设者选择乡村地区的原因有很多，从避开社区反对到追求更便宜的土地。但不能排除一些知名度不如微软或亚马逊的数据中心开发公司会选择申请这些税收优惠。德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校政府学教授内森·詹森（Nathan Jensen）表示，如果有些公司不是专门为了利用这些税收减免而考虑在乡村地区选址，他会感到“非常惊讶”。