This story is part of an ongoing series, Who Controls the West, which examines the people, companies and organizations that make decisions over how land and resources are used across the American West. Have ideas for the series? Email [email protected].
A business park known as the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center (TRIC) stretches across a landmass larger than the city of Denver. It is home to one of the largest data center campuses in the United States, built by the company Switch, alongside sprawling facilities owned by Google and Microsoft. Apple operates a separate complex nearby. Tesla’s Gigafactory is part of the same industrial corridor.
From above, it resembles a new kind of city. From the ground, it is something more fragmented: warehouses of computation scattered across the high desert…