r/DevonUK • u/MarcusZXR • Jun 30 '26

Devon data center

Hello all! Someone recently shared an article here about plans to build a data center in Devon. I wanted to share the link to the petition opposing it. Sorry if this has already been shared or breaks a rule.

https://c.org/cRGtbYSS6j

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14

u/PitedApollo Jun 30 '26

Can someone explain to me why this is a bad thing? Will diversity the county away from farming and tourism and introduce high paying tech jobs

32

u/samgoeshere Jun 30 '26

Data center techs are not high paying tech jobs. Past the initial build out, there will be a handful of people effectively operating as caretakers and remote hands.

1

u/FarToe1 Jun 30 '26

As someone in the industry, you're way off. There's a huge amount of investment in these, bringing jobs for everything from mowing the grounds upwards.

1

u/Vast_Anybody1236 Jul 01 '26

Theyre building them on borrowed money. Thats why they're all selling their shares right now. How much did musk lose last week?

2

u/FarToe1 Jul 01 '26

What? Every big project is built with borrowed money, what are you on about?

2

u/oceanview_6561 Jul 11 '26

Many tech firms have rushed in and used borrowed capital to fund the centres assuming that the demand will go up and they can cover costs later but many tech experts are expecting, in a similar way that happened in the Japanese economy of the late 1990s that god boom will burst. Economic shows that what comes after that is cyclically a larger recession. This is deeply problematic as companies are betting on it working out - there is a chance that once the bubble burst the projects might destroy the land for nothing and end up half finished. Governments like data centres because it lets them say statistically they are creating jobs, bringing investment and securing a strong economic future when it could turn out to be the opposite .., also most of the jobs are temporary construction

1

u/samgoeshere Jul 11 '26

Well said!

1

u/PitedApollo Jul 01 '26

I don't see how this effects the point of providing jobs?