The Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance hosted an AI and Energy Conference that focused on ringing in the “next industrial revolution.” Speakers included NMSU professors, local energy providers, and even representatives from BorderPlex.
Lanham Napier, chairman of BorderPlex Digital Assets, took the stage as the final speaker for the AI and Energy Conference. His talk was on the positive impacts AI infrastructure brings to the surrounding communities.
BorderPlex made headlines last year after they announced plans to build a $165 billion AI data center campus in Santa Teresa. This plan was met with stiff opposition from the community over water usage and pollution.
Napier said that places where AI infrastructure has gone, good things happen to the local community and economy. As an example, he pointed out Meta’s data center in Los Lunas.
“We look at Los Lunas and about ten years of empirical data. The population grew by 20%. If you look at what happened to gross receipts tax, it went up 350%. It showed up, it made an incredible difference in the neighborhood,” Napier said.
Napier also touched on the need for improvement in infrastructure across the country and how AI investment can help strengthen the power grid and local services. He said that one example of this is the $50 million that they are investing into local water infrastructure.
In addition to this, he said that New Mexico has missed major investments like this with Microsoft and Tesla and that this is a great investment for the state.
“Regions that win now will keep winning. The regions that do not win over the next year, they are not going to win,” Napier said
In his talk, he also touched on some of the push back that Project Jupiter received. He said that much of the criticisms were false and that all major projects get this kind of pushback.
Showing a photo of a protester holding a sign that says “You can’t drink data” he said that you wouldn't drink water without data and that water usage was not going to be an issue.
“Go back and look at infrastructure projects like the interstate highway system. The Hoover Dam. Even really cool things like the Apollo Missions, all litigated,” Napier said.
Project Jupiter is set to finish construction in 2028.
