How Georgia can ensure its economic security and continue competing globally

But past success doesn’t guarantee continued leadership and Georgia’s economic future is being contested right now.

Not in a distant policy debate in Washington, or a boardroom overseas, but here in our communities, inside our small businesses and in the infrastructure that determines whether Georgia leads the next economy or watches it move elsewhere.

Data centers are the backbone of modern society

Credit: Handout

Credit: Handout

The next chapter of economic development will require more than ribbon cuttings and national rankings. It will require economic security — strategic policy and investments that build critical infrastructure, expand research capacity and prepare the skilled workforce modern competitiveness demands. And it will require us to recognize a hard truth — the global competition is actively working to slow American innovation, not just compete with it.

Recent threat research has revealed Chinese government-linked online influence campaigns aimed at shaping American debates around artificial intelligence, infrastructure, data centers, trade policy and the investments needed to sustain U.S. innovation leadership.

OpenAI reported that China-origin operators used fake accounts posing as Americans to push narratives about data centers raising electricity costs and undermining local communities.

The objective was not to resolve local concerns. It was to exploit them.

While Georgians have the right to answers about data growth and its impact on our communities, we should recognize that China has made technological leadership a national priority. They are investing heavily at home, dominating supply chains and — according to recent research — exploiting American divide.

This is the new front line of American economic security and we must be prepared to compete.

Data centers are not just warehouses full of servers. They are the backbone of modern society, providing computing power behind artificial intelligence, cloud services, healthcare, advanced manufacturing, logistics, financial technology and modern agriculture.

Without them, manufacturers in Dalton can’t optimize operations and logistics companies in the Georgia ports don’t have the tools they need to support the digital infrastructure they rely on each day.

Georgia needs a modern policy framework

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

If Georgia fails to build the digital infrastructure that powers tomorrow’s economy, the jobs, investment and innovation that follow it will simply be built somewhere else.

This is not about choosing technology over communities. It is about choosing Georgia’s future with our eyes open. We can build responsibly, protect ratepayers, conserve resources, welcome innovation and ensure accountability. Our state has the assets to lead, but assets alone are not enough. Leadership requires action.

We need a proactive, state-level economic security strategy that strengthens our own capacity instead of deepening dependence on adversarial nations. That means supporting responsible digital infrastructure development through initiatives like the Georgia Chamber’s Data Center Ready Program under our new Alliance, both designed to provide transparency, strategic planning and long-term competitiveness.

It means protecting federal research and development partnerships that help Georgia’s universities lead in artificial intelligence, quantum, biotechnology, cybersecurity, robotics, agricultural technology and advanced materials. It means helping small businesses adopt new tools and aligning K-12, higher education, technical colleges and employers around the skills our future workforce will need.

Federal leaders should protect strategic research and development funding, modernize economic security tools and work with states ready to build. State leaders should treat innovation infrastructure as essential infrastructure.

Georgia needs a modern policy framework that accelerates responsible investment, expands regulatory sandboxes, strengthens site-readiness, supports energy generation and transmission, protects ratepayers and gives communities clear information early.

Local leaders should engage communities honestly while resisting misinformation designed to divide. Business leaders should speak plainly about what is at stake: The jobs of tomorrow will follow the infrastructure, talent, research and energy capacity of today. And all of us must choose dialogue and solutions over the divisiveness now permeating our civic discourse.

The choice before Georgia is simple: We can let America’s global competitors define the future for us, or we can build it ourselves.

Chris Clark is president and CEO of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.

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