Arkansas Tech University–Ozark and data-center developer Serverfarm unveiled a new workforce partnership Wednesday aimed at training area residents for jobs tied to the massive data-center campus rising in Clarksville. The 180-hour critical facilities training program is set to begin in January 2027, with no prior data-center experience required to enroll.
The partnership was announced during a roundtable at the ATU-Ozark campus. Under the arrangement, Serverfarm will help shape the curriculum around real-world job requirements while ATU-Ozark delivers the instruction, according to Arkansas Tech University. The program is designed to prepare both new job seekers and current workers for careers in data centers and critical-facility operations.
The training breaks down into 128 hours of supervised, hands-on lab and simulation work paired with 52 hours of classroom instruction, the university said. Organizers expect the first cohort to include 12 to 15 students, and eligible participants can use Arkansas Workforce Challenge Scholarship funds to cover the cost. School officials are already framing the course as a launching pad: the training is intended as a first step toward a proposed two-year associate degree in critical facilities technology, anticipated to begin in fall 2027.
A $6.6 Billion Campus Taking Shape Nearby
The push for trained workers comes as Serverfarm's data-center campus takes shape just down the road in Clarksville. The company says it is investing $6.6 billion to build the facility, and per the same account from Talk Business & Politics, the completed campus is expected to span about 1.2 million square feet across as much as 463 acres. The first building is expected to begin operations in summer 2027, with the entire facility operational by fall 2028, according to Talk Business & Politics.
Projected job numbers tied to the project have varied depending on the source. Serverfarm CEO Avner Papouchado said the Clarksville campus will bring 2,000 construction jobs and 200 permanent, high-paying jobs to the river valley, according to Arkansas Tech University's announcement. Serverfarm's own campus fact sheet instead describes construction supporting more than 2,000 jobs at its peak and the operational campus eventually creating more than 200 permanent positions. Talk Business & Politics, meanwhile, reported the facility is expected to have 200 full-time jobs once operational, plus roughly 1,000 additional campus jobs created by outside vendors who would not be Serverfarm employees.
Serverfarm has also made smaller, more immediate investments in the Clarksville community. The company recently donated $150,000 to the Clarksville School District for student meals, teacher grants and athletic facilities, per the university's announcement.
Part Of A Bigger National Hiring Scramble
The Arkansas program lands amid a broader national rush by tech companies to build a data-center workforce pipeline through community and technical colleges. U.S. data-center employment increased more than 60% from 2016 to 2023, according to Census Bureau figures cited by Route Fifty, and Data Center Map now lists more than 4,700 data-center locations nationwide. Still, Route Fifty notes that individual sites may employ only several hundred workers or fewer over the long term, even when construction staffing runs much higher.
Other states have already built similar training pathways. Gateway Technical College in Wisconsin offers a Microsoft data-center certificate completed over two semesters across four courses, with tuition of $2,277 plus roughly $760 for books; by the end of May, 14 students had earned the certificate and another 206 were enrolled, Route Fifty reported. In Oregon, Blue Mountain Community College has built a similar partnership with Amazon Web Services.
For now, ATU-Ozark's program remains focused on getting its first cohort into the lab come January. Whether the broader hiring promises tied to the Clarksville campus play out as described by Serverfarm, Talk Business & Politics, or ATU's own announcement, the training itself is pitched as a direct, low-barrier route into data-center work.
