The owner of the ICE detention center sees a huge opportunity in AI human camps

To house the hundreds or thousands of temporary workers needed to build AI data centers, developers are increasingly relying on temporary settlements known as human camps.

This type of camp became popular as houses for men who work in remote oil fields. For example, if a Bitcoin mining facility in rural Dickens County, Texas is converted into a 1.6 gigawatt data center, Bloomberg reports its employees live in gray buildings that have gyms, laundry facilities, game rooms, and restaurants that grill on demand.

A company called Target Hospitality has signed several contracts totaling $132 million to build and operate the Dickens County campus, which could eventually employ more than 1,000 workers.

Target sees the development of data centers in the US as its most profitable opportunity, with chief marketing officer Troy Schrenk describing it as “the biggest pipeline I’ve ever seen.”

Purpose as well owns the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, home to families detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Court documents say the food at the facility is infested with maggots and mold, and that children suffer without a place to stay because of allergies and special diets.