“Technology is going at warp speed. And we’re all trying to run to keep up with it,” Cornyn said after speaking with local leaders about the technology projects underway in Abilene.
Cornyn enjoyed a rare tour of Abilene’s Stargate Data Center Tuesday morning before he met with LIFT high school students training for technology jobs, “This is a pretty big deal, young man told me he could earn maybe $20 an hour starting out right out of high school but he may decide to continue his education and do even more, and increase his earning capacity further.”
A jobs report this year by the World Economic Forum showed that 40% of employers plan to find efficiencies by reducing their workforce, where AI can automate tasks.
Cornyn says big-picture, the next generation should be preparing to be part of a workforce that’s driven by these new technologies, “I know there’s concern about whether Artificial Intelligence is going to put people out of work. But I think what’s gonna happen, you’ll see the educational system come together, whether it’s high schools, community colleges, or junior colleges, or four-year colleges come together to make sure we can equip the next generation of these workers for these high-paying jobs.”
While the construction project on the Lancium campus has brought a big influx of workers, the data center is expected to create a relatively small number of permanent jobs, maybe fewer than a hundred. But Cornyn says Abilene is on the front edge of multiple new technologies, such as the molten salt reactor at ACU’s NEXT Lab, “That’s very exciting technology. But we also have these small nuclear, small modular reactors, portable reactors. They can supply vast amounts of energy. And I suspect that the folks out at Stargate will take advantage of all of those sources of energy.”
Environmental groups have complained about the huge amount of energy data centers require. The Stargate project developers have filed permits to operate natural gas turbines at the site and are reportedly also looking into solar, wind, and modular nuclear reactors to help provide more than a gigawatt of power for the data center.
From the development of the Stargate campus to the supporting energy projects and workforce development underway in Abilene, Cornyn says he looks forward to telling Abilene’s story when he gets back to Washington, where he says his colleagues will be envious of what’s being accomplished.
