No one wants data centers in the United States anymore, at least “not in their own backyard,” not in my back yard: citizens – from New Mexico to Michigan – oppose hosting the infrastructure needed to develop artificial intelligence in their communities, fighting as they have in the past (also in Europe) against nuclear plants and waste, high-speed rail, or landfills. Blocking projects worth billions of dollars.
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American politics is adapting, also looking at the Midterm elections: more and more governors are changing their minds and adopting more restrictive measures towards data centers, defying Donald Trump’s orders. While large tech companies – starting with Oracle, OpenAI, and Microsoft – launch massive marketing campaigns to support their projects, technology has now entered, through the wrong door, the electoral contest in some of the key states for the majority in Congress, and prospectively for the 2028 presidential challenge.
Two days ago, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, declared that his administration will no longer prioritize data center projects in the process of issuing building permits or granting tax exemptions, “if such projects do not meet new and more stringent standards.” In Texas, Democratic challenger Gina Hinojosa launched a TV ad aimed at rural areas, accusing Republican Governor Greg Abbott of having “sold out citizens to the interests of executives and tech companies.”
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But the aversion to data centers is a bipartisan issue that questions the strategy — supported by Silicon Valley and the White House — to surpass China and gain leadership in AI. Residents and administrations of Republican states and swing districts — like Texas, Mississippi, and Ohio — have joined progressive leaders like Bernie Sanders in calling for “a pause in the construction of new data centers.” The same Republican Governor Abbott, who last November wanted to make Texas “the center of American artificial intelligence development,” boasting investments of 40 billion dollars from Google, has just announced that he has blocked 1,800 new data centers, worth billions of dollars, due to “concerns about excessive energy and water consumption.”
In a few months, data centers have gone – in widespread perception – from engines of development to a phenomenon that drains resources from local communities. Within a few hundred kilometers, moving from Wall Street to Pennsylvania or from Silicon Valley to Texas, artificial intelligence transforms from an investment boom into an enemy that takes away jobs. Facts and legitimate concerns combine with modern Luddite movements and rear-guard battles. And, even within the Maga base, the desire to bring America back to primacy clashes with doubts about the benefits of new technologies for the population.
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