Pittsburgh County could not believe its luck. It was December 2024, and an Australian data centre hopeful had rolled into town with promises of building a $US50 billion ($71 billion) data centre – with conditions.

Founded by Sydney brothers Daniel and William Roberts, Iren would build a giant plant – as powerful as all the data centres in Australia combined – outside Kiowa, a rural Oklahoma town of about 600 people. In return, it wanted the county to waive 85 per cent of property taxes for 25 years.

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