Another cheer for the Microsoft Data Center
(Although it is the same cheer.)
First let me say, if he’ll stop talking about the how the “incentives were critical” so will I.
Incentives were critical in persuading Microsoft to build its second data center in San Antonio, said Mario Hernandez, president of the Economic Development Foundation, which has been working with the company for nearly a year. The first will open next month in Quincy, Wash.
Apparently incentives weren’t critical for Quincy, Washington. So if you’re going to make comparisons, at least do it with North Carolina. Given how much their spending on Google, we look brilliant.
Now I understand that this will make Microsoft CPS’s largest customer and that in general, it’s a good thing to attract big customers. If you have a big customer, you can guarantee revenue on which to base future investments. You might gain efficiencies by being able to deliver your product to just one site rather than ten. You might only need to design one version of your product rather than three or four to accommodate a larger number of smaller customers. So I do get it.
What I would like to know is what does CPS get out this by having Microsoft as it’s largest customer? According to David Marquez, the appeal of the Microsoft deal is the capital investment.
“This is kind of an unusual abatement for us,” said David Marquez, the county’s economic development director. “The job creation number is low, but the capital investment number is high.”
How so? Isn’t CPS actually paying the costs from it’s special fund? How will these investments pay off for CPS and/or San Antonio rate payers?
Technorati Tags: Microsoft Data Center, San Antonio, San Antonio Data Center, Economic Incentives, CPS, City Public Serivce, Mario Hernandez, David Marquez, Bexar County Commissioners
Filed under: Bexar County Commissioners, CPS, David Marquez, Mario Hernandez, San Antonio Data Center, Uncategorized, economic incentives, microsoft data center
