In Reply to: Canadians don't forget. posted by mh on November 14, 2025 at 10:26:36
A new study found the total value of blocked or delayed data center projects during a three-month stretch earlier this year exceeded the total in the prior two years, signaling accelerating opposition to a foundational piece of artificial intelligence development in the U.S.
The study — conducted by Data Center Watch, a project of AI intelligence firm 10a Labs that tracks local data center activity — found that an estimated $98 billion in data center projects were blocked or delayed from late March through June. That compares to $64 billion worth of projects that were blocked or delayed between 2023 and late March 2025.
“Opposition to data centers is accelerating,” the authors wrote in the report, shared first with NBC News. “As political resistance builds and local organizing becomes more coordinated, this is now a sustained and intensifying trend.”
Leaders in both parties are locked in competition to encourage tech giants to put sprawling data centers in their states, looking for an economic leg up and an innovation edge in the early days of the artificial intelligence boom. But resident backlash has intensified in recent months as the projects have contributed to rising electricity bills, among other concerns.
This month in Virginia, data centers were at the center of the campaign in one of the state legislative districts Democrats flipped, with Democratic challenger John McAuliff accusing Republican incumbent Geary Higgins of allowing the “unchecked growth” of data centers, while Higgins said in one of his own ads, “We need to ensure that data centers aren’t built near homes or in our open spaces.”