# Inside a Texas Data Center: CEO Says the AI Build-Out Is a Blue-Collar Jobs Engine

Compass Datacenters' Chris Crosby tells Fox News Digital that the Red Oak campus runs without cooling water and needs more electricians and technicians than it can find. Fox says getting in took three months.

- Section: [Economy](https://rightnewsrightnow.com/economy/)
- Published: 2026-10-19
- By: RightNewsRightNow Staff
- Canonical page: https://rightnewsrightnow.com/articles/compass-datacenters-red-oak-texas-blue-collar-jobs/

Fox News Digital got a rare look inside a data center this week, and the company's chief executive used the tour to argue that the artificial intelligence boom is also a jobs story.

The visit. Fox says it took roughly three months of approvals to get into Compass Datacenters' campus in Red Oak, Texas, about 20 miles south of Dallas. Visitors pass six layers of security and wear protective gear, and cameras and recording devices are banned. Inside, Fox describes spotless floors, rows of server racks and a surprisingly quiet room.

Water and security. CEO Chris Crosby, a North Texas native, says the campus has not used water for cooling since it opened, relying on a closed-loop system that recirculates coolant. "Water is precious in North Texas," he said. He says the heavy security protects sensitive customers: "If people knew that a bank or a government was operating at a particular facility, they could infiltrate that facility."

The jobs. The campus will eventually hold 10 buildings across about 2.6 million square feet, and it also hosts a Schneider Electric manufacturing plant and a training center run with Texas State Technical College. Crosby says about 600 people work for Compass there and about 300 for Schneider, and thousands of construction workers have passed through since work began in 2019. "We can't get enough people into this career," he said. The $12.6 million training center, called MEI Pathways, runs a 12-week program for electricians, mechanics and technicians. Crosby also said there was "a war on blue-collar jobs for a long time" because "everybody had to get a four-year degree," and added, "I'm so glad that's over with."

The community. Compass says it has worked with local officials on roads and sewer lines and gave $15 million toward a new animal shelter in Ellis County after the earlier arrangement ended.

The open question. Fox notes that Texas is still working out how to meet the huge electricity demand from the industry while protecting grid reliability. The employment and water figures come from the company's CEO and were not independently checked. Crosby said he is "tired of the elitism that this doesn't create jobs."

## Source

Original reporting: [Fox News (exclusive)](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/took-3-months-get-inside-massive-texas-data-center-heres-what-we-saw)