As data center projects continue to get shut down across the country, "Shark Tank" star Kevin O'Leary and other investors are warning that the facilities are needed to compete with China in the artificial intelligence race.Data centers are at the forefront of the continued development of AI, serving as the hardware for the large amount of electricity and infrastructure needed to improve response time and data storage.But opponents cite utility costs to local residents and environmental concerns in their efforts to block development of new centers.Kevin O'Leary visits the set of "Outnumbered" at Fox News Channel Studios in New York City on April 18, 2024.
(Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)"If everybody talks about data centers, too much heat, too much noise, too much water, all that, that was 20 years ago," O’Leary told Fox News Digital."Today's technology is completely different in terms of the heat profile, in terms the water profile, in terms how big these buildings have to be and where they have to be, because we've got air-cooled technology and obviously the chip technology's advanced."TRUMP SAYS EVERY AI PLANT BEING BUILT IN US WILL BE SELF-SUSTAINING WITH THEIR OWN ELECTRICITYO’Leary said China is focused on improving its power grid, which is needed in order to support the massive electricity demands of running a data center.
He noted that data centers can function using varied energy sources.Protesters react as the Box Elder County Commission approves a large AI data center project in Tremonton, Utah, on May 4, 2026.Activists opposed the proposed 40,000-acre development over concerns about water use, energy demand and environmental impact.
(Natalie Behring/Getty Images)"Most of it is coming from burning nat[ural] gas, which is very clean now, with turbines," he said."Hopefully nuclear power one day, some solar, some battery, all of it together.
I think the key is that they're beating us because they're getting more power sooner, and then they're building thes...