Target Hospitality pivots to housing for AI data center workers

Developers building artificial intelligence data centers are increasingly relying on temporary villages known as “man camps”—defined as temporary housing for remote workers—to house the workforce required for these massive projects. As the infrastructure demands of AI expand, the construction of these facilities requires a temporary workforce, often in remote locations where existing housing is insufficient.

Target Hospitality is pivoting to capitalize on this U.S. data center construction boom, viewing it as its most lucrative growth opportunity. The company has secured a project in Dickens County, Texas, where a facility is being converted into a 1.6 gigawatt data center. To support this transition, Target Hospitality has signed multiple contracts to build and operate the Dickens County camp. These contracts are worth a total of $132 million. This temporary housing facility could eventually house more than 1,000 workers.

The company’s leadership has expressed high expectations for this business direction. Troy Schrenk, the Chief Commercial Officer of Target Hospitality, highlighted the scale of the opportunity, describing the market pipeline in the data center sector as “the largest, most actionable pipeline I’ve ever seen.”

In addition to its data center projects, Target Hospitality owns and operates the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas. This facility holds families detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. federal agency responsible for managing immigration detention. Within court filings related to this facility, it has been alleged that the center’s food has had worms and mold, and that children have suffered without accommodation for allergies and special diets.

Why it matters

Target Hospitality is leveraging its experience in remote workforce housing to capitalize on the U.S. data center construction boom, highlighting the massive infrastructure requirements supporting the AI industry.