Trust, but Verify (Editorial)

A server room in a data center. Conway has agreed to a memorandum of understanding with an unnamed Fortune 100 company to build a $1 billion, 300,000-SF data center in the city. (Shutterstock)

President Ronald Reagan occasionally used a maxim that is worth resurrecting: Trust, but verify.

So while we’re cautiously optimistic about the prospect of a $1 billion data center making its home in Little Rock — and another in Conway as well — our emphasis is on the “cautiously.”

The Little Rock Board of Directors has approved a memorandum of understanding to sell 380 acres of the Port of Little Rock to a company for the data center. The company, as of this writing, was unnamed but was described as belonging to the Fortune 100. Officials described it as the largest economic development investment in city history.

Much else remains unknown about the proposed 300,000-SF data center, such as its products or services and its customers. But it’s receiving a number of incentives from the city, though it will be paying $300,000 to the city annually.

We remember, however, the lesson of crypto mining in this state, which was sold by Arkansas legislators as an economic development tool but which has proved to be a decidedly mixed blessing, at least for those who live near the crypto mines.

We look forward to learning more about the data center, benefits as well as possible drawbacks.