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SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO

New Mexico kicks in $3 million for Project Jupiter hires

Grant aims to lock in local hires for data center

Renderings depict Project Jupiter, the massive data center complex planned for Doña Ana County.
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New Mexico is kicking in more than $3 million to support hires for Project Jupiter, the hyperscale data center under construction in Santa Teresa for Oracle and OpenAI.

The state Economic Development Department approved the grant through its Job Training Incentive Program, which announced $12 million in awards for the first quarter of the fiscal year that started on July 1, of which roughly 25% went to data center builder Stack Infrastructure.

The EDD said the $3,056,745 award would support 95 trainees at wages averaging $48 per hour — roughly $100,000 annually — in Santa Teresa.

While it was the largest single award in the tranche announced Wednesday, other large awards went to energy company Pacific Fusion ($2.4 million), Boeing ($1.8 million) and power company I-Pulse ($1.6 million) for hires in the Albuquerque area.

Chris Chaffin, the EDD’s spokesperson, said Stack Infrastructure’s award was “one of the largest single JTIP awards we’ve announced, reflecting both the scale of the project and the significant investment in workforce development that Project Jupiter is making.”

Construction began in September on land topping 1,200 acres along the state highway connecting to the Santa Teresa Port of Entry, with the goal of starting initial operations in the fourth quarter of 2026.

JTIP is a grant paid through reimbursements based on a targeted number of jobs and salaries and other program requirements.

Chaffin said the grant agreement with Stack includes a requirement that trainees live in New Mexico for at least a year before training and continue to live in the state, although trainees for certain high-wage positions may be exempt. As stated in the agreement, eligible trainees may move to New Mexico “with the intent of making New Mexico his/her permanent place of residence prior to beginning work with the participating company.”

As of June, Oracle has stated construction of the data center campus will create over 4,000 jobs, with 1,500 operational positions after construction. Both projections exceed commitments made under an industrial revenue bond agreement with the county, which locks the project into 2,500 construction jobs and 750 full-time jobs at the facility.

Structures are beginning to take form on the site of data center complex Project Jupiter in Santa Teresa, seen in this June 11 photo.

Doña Ana County commissioners recently called on the data center’s developers to attend a public session later this month to provide data on current hires at the project site and how many jobs are going to New Mexico residents. Such reporting is a requirement under its agreement with the county, authorized last September amid controversy, that provided tax relief to support the project in exchange for direct payments to schools and investment in community development.

The project’s memorandum of understanding with the county also calls for a “Doña Ana County First” hiring strategy, with a pledge to prioritize local hires through work with local contractors and vendors.

Last month, the county’s economic development director, Denisse Carter, said the project had yet to submit reports documenting its job hires but attributed this to ongoing work on establishing a secure portal for delivering the data without exposing workers’ personal information.

A spokesperson for Oracle told the Journal the data center, once operational, “is expected to create approximately 1,500 ongoing jobs, with a focus on hiring local suppliers, vendors, contractors, and residents, supported by workforce training programs that will help build long-term opportunities. We remain committed to transparency and to working closely with the community as Project Jupiter moves forward.”

Algernon ’A is the Journal’s southern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at adammassa@abqjournal.com.