Activist groups, including some funded by foreign sources, are waging a coordinated campaign against data centers. Their aim is to derail the construction of facilities that will provide the backbone for the new Artificial Intelligence-based economy, jeopardizing American technological leadership.
A misinformation offensive, often using social media platforms, is spreading deception about companies' efforts to construct data centers. The propaganda excoriates the projects for depleting water resources, increasing consumer utility bills and devouring large parcels of farmland.
What's ironic is many naysayers hypnotized by AI deception are young people, who are the heaviest users of new applications from the likes of Anthropic (Claude), Open AI (ChatGPT), and SpaceXAI (Grok). It's hypocritical to be against data centers, but be unwilling to give up the technology.
Pew Research recently published figures showing there are more than 3,000 operational data centers in the U.S. with another 1,500 in various stages of development. However, other sources cite as many as 4,500 operational centers.
The first data center was built in 1998 in Northern Virginia by a startup firm, Equinix, to serve America Online (AOL). It was a novel idea, but as the internet became more intertwined in American life, other facilities sprouted. Northern Virginia is now home to the highest concentration of data centers.
Currently, 38% of Americans live within five miles of one data center, Pew estimates. Most people are unaware of their presence because these warehouse-looking buildings have slumbered in anonymity for decades. The facilities were about as controversial as ice cream.
Even as data centers construction boomed in the last 20 years, few Americans understood how the facilities touched their lives. The technology housed in the centers enable internet connections for your laptop, smartphone, smartwatch, automobile and many other digital devices.
Every time you check an email, text someone, browse a website, use social media, stream music and movies, use a ride share app, buy products and services online, use a location app, save a photo to the cloud, access your banking information, it is routed digitally to a data center.
Packed inside the centers are powerful computers, hard drives, routers, cables, fiber optics, cooling systems, generators and batteries, ethernet switches and a myriad of other equipment. Data centers are the backbone of the digital world we inhabit.
With the advent of Artificial Intelligence data centers, there has been a seismic shift in public attitudes. The latest polling finds 61% of Americans oppose the building of a new data center in their area, according to a University of Pennsylvania survey. That's up 12 percentage points just since February.
Opposition began as a small stream and now is a raging river of hostility. It is the political issue de jour for many, embroiling communities, states, politicians and Congress. The outcry has been stoked by activist groups infiltrating social media and public events to sabotage data center construction.
The coordinated opposition campaign is the work of 12 organizations that have received collectively more than $39 million from foreign donors, including billionaires and foundations based in Switzerland, United Kingdom, Denmark and China.
This information was compiled by Americans for Public Trust, a nonprofit watchdog that tracks foreign money influencing politics. The funding totals are based on publicly available grant disclosures and tax filings.
Among the key organizations is the national 350.org, which claims its mission is to train "ordinary people to create local campaigns to ignite a renewable energy revolution." Multiple chapters have organized anti-data center protests from New York City, to Hawaii, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
The 350.org has reported receiving $9.5 million in donations from United Kingdom and Denmark groups. The largest donor is the Oak Foundation, a UK-based group that shelled out $7.5 million. The foundation has attracted attention globally for its extensive funding of controversial activities.
A familiar backer of the anti-AI data center movement is the Indivisible Project, which has been involved in the No Kings protests and anti-ICE activities. The group received $7.45 million from Wyss Foundation, which is funded by Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss.
A group called Oil Change International, which advocates for policies to ban fossil fuels, has partnered with media outlets to provided biased research attaching a negative spin on data center development. Among its chief funders is a Danish -based philanthropic group, KR foundation.
CodePink, which has targeted data center projects, has received funding linked to socialist mega donor Neville Roy Singham, who has deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Singham has reportedly funneled roughly $285 million into six activist nonprofits. Many are at the forefront of opposition.
Several media outlets recently reported that China is using "bots" to influence Americans to oppose AI data centers on the social media platform, X. The X Safety Team identified 200,000 accounts posting in "a manner to manipulate legitimate debate" about data centers.
OpenAI briefed on disrupting two Chinese-linked covert networks using its ChatGPT to create fake content to influence debates on energy consumption by AI data centers. The Chinese Communist Party has openly discussed its plan to dominate the Artificial Intelligence space.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee sent a letter in June asking the FBI and White House advisers to brief lawmakers on alleged propaganda campaigns to undermine data center expansion designed by foreign adversaries, specifically China, Russia and Iran.
Despite evidence to the contrary, America's legacy media continue to paint opposition to AI data centers as a grassroots campaign. They note that ranchers, housewives, college students and ordinary people show up at the protests. They point to bi-partisan calls for data center moratoriums.
But the opposition is not spontaneous, but a coordinated campaign financed in part by foreign donors. These astroturf protests are constructed on political ideology and misinformation rather than facts.
One of the favorite tactics of adversaries is to raise the specter of rising electric rates for average Americans. They never mention that many AI centers under construction have agreed to provide their own power sources or negotiate contracts with local utilities to shield consumers from rate hikes.
A Harvard study found that data centers accounted for 1.9% of all the electricity usage in the U.S. in 2018. The percentage rose to 4.4% in 2023. Forecasters are estimating the usage as a percentage of all electricity generated will be 9% by 2030. By 2030, electric vehicles will consume about 4.6%.
The primary reason for higher electricity bills is that utilities are spending heavily to replace aging power lines, modernize distribution systems and harden the grid against severe weather events. For years, utilities have deferred updating facilities. These costs are passed on directly to consumers.
Additional capacity is also required for electric vehicles, manufacturing plants and, yes, for data centers too. Blaming only data centers for costly upgrades ignores the reality on the ground. America's electric grid is woefully inadequate and its showing signs of aging.
Another argument employed by antagonists is water consumption by thirsty AI data centers. The water is used to cool the centers, which are stuffed with thousands of powerful Graphic Processing Units (GPU) which create more heat than a standard data center.
In recognition of the water issue, new AI data centers used so-called closed-loop water cooling. Water circulates in sealed pipes or coils without directly exposing the liquid to air. This minimizes the loss of water--the same water is being recirculated. These systems reduce freshwater usage by 70%.
To conserve water, the $1.2 billion Meta data center in Kuma, Idaho, will deploy a closed loop system containing 200,000 gallons of water, reducing the need to tap into a community's fresh water system. The firm has also invested $100 million in a new water and wastewater infrastructure in Kuma.
Amazon Web Services announced recently that 20 of its data centers will be cooling with purified wastewater, instead of fresh water. After cycling through the cooling system, the water is sent back to the treatment plant to be cleaned and reused again.
Many smaller or older data centers rely on air conditioning and chilled air circulation to remove heat. The centers employ mechanical chillers or heat exchangers that do not consumer water for cooling, aside from minimal water for humidification. Air cooling is more common in cooler climates.
Industry estimates show that approximately 75-90% of data centers worldwide rely on water-based cooling as the primary methodology for cooling. One site in Fayetteville County, Georgia, used 29 million gallons over a span of 15 months. Statistics such as this are grist for anti-AI activists.
However, here's just one fact to put data center usage in perspective. It takes 1.1 gallons of water to grow a single almond. California produces 2.5-to-2.8 BILLION pounds of almonds every year. Do you recall dozens of well funded activist groups showing up to protest almonds?
New AI data centers have one thing in common with almond crops--both need large parcels of land. The average AI data center requires about 200 acres, although some major tech companies are constructing massive facilities that gobble up 500-to-800 acres.
More tech companies are targeting large rural or semi-rural acreage for construction of their facilities. Commercial property firm Avison Young estimates that AI firms have spent roughly $6 billion on land purchases this year, a 79% hike from just one year ago.
Farmers, in particular, must weigh the benefits and and disadvantages of selling land. Farmers stand to benefit from innovations and efficiency in their business from AI powered information, reports the American Farm Bureau Federation.
Every farmer or rancher has a different motivation. Small farmers, often are one crop failure away from bankruptcy, may be incentivized to sell their land to insure their family's financial future. For others, the land has been in their family for generations and they have no plan to sell.
Ultimately, farmers, ranchers and landowners have the right to decide how their private property is used.
If all else fails, critics fall back on a familiar harangue--the billionaires are the ones reaping all the benefits off AI data centers. Ordinary folks are the ones footing the bill. There have been studies documenting the real world economic impact of AI data centers, which paint a different picture.
A 2025 study found that data center projects in Ohio supported nearly 9,700 construction jobs during the build phase, while generating $2.4 billion in total economic output and contributing $1 billion to the state's Gross Domestic Product. The centers generated $84 million in state and local tax revenues.
A similar study in Virginia found that data centers in that state supported nearly 74,000 jobs annually, including construction, and generated $9.1 billion in annual economic contribution. In some jurisdictions, data centers accounted for up to 30% of local tax revenues.
Winners in the AI race will be those countries that foster a collaborative climate between communities and the firms building the data centers to address electricity and water issues prior to construction. That is already happening as more AI industry firms are working to resolve potential impacts.
Americans need facts about AI data centers to make informed decisions. Unfortunately, the majority of the media is fueling the opposition by regurgitating the left's talking points rather than providing balanced reporting. In doing so, they are aiding and abetting China.
Every new technology introduced in American history has faced skepticism, opposition and apprehension. Keep that in mind as you read and listen to arguments on both sides of the AI data center issue. The history lesson is that facts eventually triumph over scare tactics.
