AI Data Center Gets Approval for $165 Billion Phantom Debt Deal

Commissioners from Doña Ana County, New Mexico, approved a $165 billion industrial revenue bond package and a sweeping set of tax incentives tied to a sprawling AI data center project, moving forward with one of the largest economic development efforts in New Mexico history.

The board voted 4-1 on Friday to back the deal on, which will allow BorderPlex Digital Assets, an Austin-based firm, and STACK Infrastructure, owned by Blue Owl Capital, to build four data centers and related energy facilities near the US-Mexican border.

The industrial revenue bond package isn’t county debt, but a mechanism to confer tax breaks. ...