Becoming Competitive: IT infrastructure

CT has a huge opportunity to close the gap with its neighboring states (MA, NY, and RI) that have all significantly outperformed CT in the post COVID economy and dramatically so since 2008. CT has yet to recover in terms of payroll employment. But if CT aggressively supports development of AI-compliant data centers (the first one is planned for a location adjacent to the Millstone nuclear facility), it would likely transform its economy and create a really good trajectory for future growth.

CT basically ignored the development of the internet and its importance for the economy. Today, CT has but about 0.7% of the national cloud and data storage infrastructure. NY and MA, whose economies have done so much better, are among the top five nationally, each having close to 5% of the national infrastructure. To chart a better future, CT needs to close the gap. It CT acts now, it will be as much as two years ahead of everyone else--and thus capture a leadership role in the new, dynamic AI-driven growth.

And here is the amazing thing: CT currently exports nearly 40% of the electricity generated in the state. It is CT-generated electricity that has literally and figuratively driven in significant measure the economic growth in MA and NY while CT's own economy stagnated. Why don't we use the power we generate in CT to give ourselves a better tomorrow? We now have the opportunity to do just that.