The future of America as a high-tech superpower is at a tipping point.The latest Fox poll shows 70% of Americans now oppose building new data centers in their communities, even though they are crucial to our future as a high-tech economy.Another report shows that 40% of new data centers have been delayed or canceled in 2026 — news that’s deeply welcome to our opponents in the artificial intelligence (AI) and tech race, the Communist Chinese Party.Data centers have become an electoral issue for the midterms, even in a red state like Texas where Republican Gov.
Greg Abbott has announced a construction moratorium.It’s probably the only thing he has in common with ultra-liberal Democrat Gov.
Kathy Hochul of New York: a willingness to hit the pause button on data centers.FROM NEW YORK TO TEXAS, STATES SHOULD RESPECT LOCAL CONTROL ON DATA CENTERSThis backlash comes despite the fact that every policymaker knows that data centers are needed to power our future economy, from AI to the Internet of Things and the cloud, and that the only real beneficiary of a moratorium will be China.Still, the public remains unconvinced, especially when it faces a zoning proposal to build a data center half a mile from its backyard.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)This all sounds discouraging, but we’ve been here before.
Just a decade ago, the advent of large-scale fracking, or horizontal drilling, for oil and gas faced a similar frenzy of opposition.If today’s anti-data center forces have strong support from communist China (which has been linked to more than 200 accounts on X, promoting data center misinformation) then it was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Russian media that amplified the anti-fracking movement here and in E...