El Paso's Data Center Buildout Brings Trades Jobs, School Funding

EL PASO — A string of workforce announcements and community commitments this month is underscoring how Northeast El Paso’s data center boom could benefit the region's workers, schools, and public services.

On Wednesday, Meta and North America's Building Trades Unions (NABTU) announced a new partnership to invest in skilled trades workers building the country's AI infrastructure. NABTU President Sean McGarvey called it “exactly the kind of investment communities across America need,” while Meta President and Vice Chairman Dina Powell McCormick said the tradespeople building this infrastructure are essential to keeping America at the front of the global AI race.

For El Paso, the partnership underscores the skilled labor expansion already taking place. More than 4,000 skilled trade workers, including steel workers, pipefitters, electricians, carpenters, and fiber technicians, are expected for Meta’s 1 gigawatt data center project, with several hundred permanent jobs expected once the site is operational in 2028.

Initially a $1 billion project, the development has grown into a $14 billion investment with the addition of BlackRock as a strategic partner. Under a venture the two companies announced in July, funds managed by BlackRock, together with Global Infrastructure Partners and HPS Investment Partners, will own 80% of the El Paso campus, with Meta retaining 20% and serving as the site's operator and sole occupant.

For El Paso, it means the project is now backed by two of the largest investors in American infrastructure, each with industry-leading workforce commitments. BlackRock and its AI Infrastructure Partnership recently signed its own memorandum of understanding with NABTU and previously announced an initiative to train more than 12,000 electricians, which drew support from the Texas Association of Business.

The El Paso site is also part of Meta’s America's Workforce Academy, a free skilled trades training program that provides every graduate a guaranteed job at one of the company's data center sites.

On Monday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a $1 billion Future Is For Everyone Fund for communities where the company builds and operates data centers. Zuckerberg wrote that as tax revenue from these projects grows, it benefits “teachers, law enforcement, fire departments, and more,” pointing to Richland Parish, Louisiana, where revenue tied to Meta's data center funded $50,000 bonuses for local teachers.

In El Paso, the data center has already brought more than $8 million in local infrastructure improvements and a $500,000 grant to El Paso public schools to build career pathways for students, from STEM fields to the skilled trades. Continued growth in El Paso’s tax base over the life of the data center would likely support similar benefits for teachers, police, and fire departments.

Local leaders have been largely supportive of the massive investment opportunity for El Paso. Former El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser, a Democrat, applauded the project, saying it reaffirmed the city’s dedication to becoming “a hub for innovation, job creation, and economic prosperity.”

This week, Governor Greg Abbott also announced that Meta had agreed to comply with his statewide data center guidelines, covering electric infrastructure costs, water stewardship, and community protections.

Meta says it has worked with El Paso Electric to pay the full cost of the energy and infrastructure the campus requires so ratepayers are not affected, and it pays the full cost of water and wastewater services. The company has also pledged to restore 200% of the data center’s water consumption to local watersheds, using a closed-loop, liquid-cooled system that uses zero water most of the year.

By training and hiring local skilled trades workers and putting money into schools, utilities, and public services, the data center operators are working to sustain local support as data center development nationwide faces increased scrutiny.