Tech companies dealing with data center protests locally are fighting a losing battle

[1srelluc]

MSN

Tech giants jostling with small-town opposition as they embark on their massive data center buildout plans risk forgetting a crucial detail: disdain for data centers, and the AI backlash at large, has gone national.

Data center opposition is no longer contained to the individual towns and counties playing host to new construction, according to findings from a survey published Monday by Milltown Partners, a global advisory firm. According to the report, only 8% of Americans who say they oppose data centers actually live near one, suggesting an even steeper mountain to climb for AI companies racing to get the U.S. public on its side.

In the first quarter of 2026, public backlash delayed or blocked at least 75 data center projects nationwide, worth a cumulative $130 billion, according to the Data Center Watch Initiative, a monitoring project. That was not far off from the total losses companies incurred from blocked projects in all of 2025, and suggested a scale of discontent going well beyond the relatively small clusters where data centers are actually being built.

“Something that has changed right now is that now we have people that are against data centers even though they don’t have a data center in their backyard, because they see data centers as the embodiment of AI,” Miquel Vila, lead analyst at the Data Center Watch, told Fortune.

As I have maintained all along....This is not a right vs left issue nor even a "Mah China" one as the data center stalwarts like to use as a stalking horse.

People just have a gut feeling that the whole AI thing is bad for America and data centers are what they can see. Maybe on this one we should go with our gut.

 

[Crepitus]

MSN

Tech giants jostling with small-town opposition as they embark on their massive data center buildout plans risk forgetting a crucial detail: disdain for data centers, and the AI backlash at large, has gone national.

Data center opposition is no longer contained to the individual towns and counties playing host to new construction, according to findings from a survey published Monday by Milltown Partners, a global advisory firm. According to the report, only 8% of Americans who say they oppose data centers actually live near one, suggesting an even steeper mountain to climb for AI companies racing to get the U.S. public on its side.

In the first quarter of 2026, public backlash delayed or blocked at least 75 data center projects nationwide, worth a cumulative $130 billion, according to the Data Center Watch Initiative, a monitoring project. That was not far off from the total losses companies incurred from blocked projects in all of 2025, and suggested a scale of discontent going well beyond the relatively small clusters where data centers are actually being built.

“Something that has changed right now is that now we have people that are against data centers even though they don’t have a data center in their backyard, because they see data centers as the embodiment of AI,” Miquel Vila, lead analyst at the Data Center Watch, told Fortune.

As I have maintained all along....This is not a right vs left issue nor even a "Mah China" one as the data center stalwarts like to use as a stalking horse.

People just have a gut feeling that the whole AI thing is bad for America and data centers are what they can see. Maybe on this one we should go with our gut.

It's rare that you and I agree, but on this we do.

 

[odanny]

We don't need no stinkin' AI.

 

[Votto]

MSN

Tech giants jostling with small-town opposition as they embark on their massive data center buildout plans risk forgetting a crucial detail: disdain for data centers, and the AI backlash at large, has gone national.

Data center opposition is no longer contained to the individual towns and counties playing host to new construction, according to findings from a survey published Monday by Milltown Partners, a global advisory firm. According to the report, only 8% of Americans who say they oppose data centers actually live near one, suggesting an even steeper mountain to climb for AI companies racing to get the U.S. public on its side.

In the first quarter of 2026, public backlash delayed or blocked at least 75 data center projects nationwide, worth a cumulative $130 billion, according to the Data Center Watch Initiative, a monitoring project. That was not far off from the total losses companies incurred from blocked projects in all of 2025, and suggested a scale of discontent going well beyond the relatively small clusters where data centers are actually being built.

“Something that has changed right now is that now we have people that are against data centers even though they don’t have a data center in their backyard, because they see data centers as the embodiment of AI,” Miquel Vila, lead analyst at the Data Center Watch, told Fortune.

As I have maintained all along....This is not a right vs left issue nor even a "Mah China" one as the data center stalwarts like to use as a stalking horse.

People just have a gut feeling that the whole AI thing is bad for America and data centers are what they can see. Maybe on this one we should go with our gut.

And?

No one gives a damn as all the money and power favors this stuff.

All of it.

 

[EdwinAMartin]

They will jack up everybody's electric and water bills over this bullshit, since these things will never pay for themselves on their own and all the billionaires piling in Other Peoples' Money into these scams will be demanding huge govt. bailouts to be reimbursed with.

 

[1srelluc]

And?

No one gives a damn as all the money and power favors this stuff.

All of it.

I get it I really do. Companies that are getting near a Trillion in loans to build them are gonna move heaven and earth to get them built.....Somewhere.

From what I could find out data center-related lobbying in 2025 reached at least $250 million, with the bulk coming from the tech sectors.

I don't know how that compares to other lobbying efforts from an industry but it seems like a lot given the 5 Billion spent (total) in US (federal) lobbying efforts.