Fiber came first. Tax incentives and AI took it from there.

Have you ever wondered why Northern Virginia has so many data centers?

It started in the early 1990s when one of the internet’s first major exchange points was established in Tysons. That attracted fiber networks and technology companies to the area.

Data centers followed because being physically close to those networks improved speed and reliability. Once the infrastructure was here, the industry continued building around it.

Virginia added another incentive in 2009 by exempting qualifying data-center equipment from sales tax. That exemption is currently scheduled to remain in place until 2050.

Now, artificial intelligence is accelerating the demand.

Loudoun County remains the center of the industry, but new campuses are expanding into Prince William and other parts of Virginia. Utilities are also building substations and transmission lines to provide the enormous amount of electricity these facilities require.

Data centers generate significant tax revenue, but they also consume a lot of land and power while creating relatively few permanent jobs.

That’s why the debate has shifted. It’s no longer just whether data centers are good or bad. It’s how many we should build, where they should go and who should pay for the infrastructure supporting them.

What do you think? Has the data-center boom been good for Northern Virginia, or are we building too much too quickly?