Temporary Villages for AI Data Center Workers: The Rise of Man Camps
Developers in the technology industry are facing a new challenge – housing the hundreds or thousands of temporary workers required to build AI data centers. To meet this demand, they are turning to temporary villages known as man camps.
Originally popularized as housing for men working in remote oil fields, man camps are now being repurposed for the construction of AI data centers. For example, in rural Dickens County, Texas, a Bitcoin mining facility is being transformed into a 1.6 gigawatt data center. Workers at this site are accommodated in gray housing units equipped with amenities such as a gym, a laundromat, game rooms, and a cafeteria that serves steaks on-demand, as reported by Bloomberg.
Target Hospitality, a company specializing in temporary housing solutions, has secured contracts totaling $132 million to build and manage the Dickens County camp. Once completed, the camp is expected to accommodate over 1,000 workers involved in the data center construction.
Target Hospitality views the U.S. data center construction boom as a significant growth opportunity, with its chief commercial officer Troy Schrenk describing it as “the largest, most actionable pipeline I’ve ever seen.” The company is heavily invested in catering to the needs of workers in this industry.
It is worth noting that Target Hospitality also owns the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, which houses families detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Concerns have been raised in court filings about the conditions at the center, including reports of contaminated food and inadequate provisions for children with allergies and special dietary requirements.
