There was a time when most Americans knew little to nothing about their local data center. Server farms have long been the invisible but crucial backbone of the Internet and have rarely been a focal point to people outside the tech industry, let alone a subject of particularly compelling political resonance.
Well, as of 2025, those days look like officially over.
Over the past 12 months, data centers in dozens of states sparked protests as regional activists sought to combat America's ever-increasing computing burden. Data Center Watch, a company that tracks anti-data center activism, writes that There are currently 142 different activist groups in 24 states organizing against data center development.
Activists have a wide range of concerns: the environment and potential Health effects Of these projects are the controversial paths where AI is used, and particularly the undeniable fact that so many recent additions to the American grid could drive up local electricity bills.
Such a sudden populist rebellion seems a natural response to an industry that has grown so quickly that it’s now popping up in people's backyards. In fact, because the AI ​​industry has grown to dizzying heights, the cloud computing business has also grown. Current data from the US Census Bureau shows thatSince 2021, data center construction spending has increased by a staggering 331%. Spending on these projects totals a whole lot of billions of dollars. So many recent data centers have been proposed in recent months that many experts consider most of them won't occur – and that was indeed unimaginable – be built.
This expansion shows no signs of slowing down within the meantime. Major tech giants – including Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon – have done this all the things announced Significant capital expenditure is forecast for the brand new 12 months, much of which is prone to go towards such projects.
New AI infrastructure is being pushed not only in Silicon Valley, but additionally in Washington, DC, where the Trump administration has made artificial intelligence a central a part of its agenda. The Stargate project, announced in January, paved the way in which for the huge expansion of AI infrastructure in 2025 declares a supposed one “Reindustrialization of the United States.”
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In the technique of exponential scaling, an industry that when had little public attention has suddenly found itself thrust into the highlight – and is now suffering backlash. Danny Cendejas, an activist with the nonprofit MediaJustice, has been personally involved in a lot of anti-data center actions, including a protest held in Memphis, Tennessee, earlier this 12 months where locals protested Expansion of Colossusa project from Elon Musk's startup xAI.
Cendejas told TechCrunch that he meets recent people every week who express interest in organizing against a knowledge center of their community. “I don’t think that is going to stop anytime soon,” he said. “I believe it can proceed and we are going to see more successes – more projects shall be stopped.”
Evidence supporting Cendejas' assessment is all over the place. Across the country, communities have responded to newly announced server farms much as the common citizen would reply to the presence of a highly contagious disease. In Michigan, for instance, where developers are currently situated 16 different locations in mind Protesters recently flocked to the state capital over the possible construction of a knowledge center. Saying things like: “Michiganders don’t want data centers in our backyards, in our communities.” Meanwhile, Wisconsin — one other hotspot of development — appears to have disgruntled locals currently Microsoft has advised against this from using their city because the headquarters for a brand new 500-acre data center. Southern California is home to the tiny town of Imperial Valley filed a lawsuit to revoke his district's approval for a knowledge center project, citing environmental concerns as the explanation.
Dissatisfaction with these projects has change into so great that politicians consider it could determine the success or failure of certain candidates on the ballot box. In November, it was reported that rising electricity costs – which many consider are attributable to the AI ​​boom – could rise a critical topic that may determine the 2026 midterm elections.
“The whole context of everyone's rising energy bills — I believe that's what's really made this issue so severe for people,” Cendejas told TechCrunch. “So a lot of us are struggling month to month. Now there's this huge expansion of information centers… (People are wondering,) Where is all the cash coming from? How do our local governments allocate grants and public money to incentivize these projects when there may be a lot need in our communities?”
In some cases, the protests look like having an impact, even stopping planned developments (if only temporarily). Data center monitoring claims that Due to grassroots resistance, around $64 billion price of developments have been blocked or delayed. Cendejas actually believes in the concept that organized motion can bring businesses to a standstill. “All the general public pressure is working,” he said, noting that he could sense a “very palpable anger” over the problem.
Not surprisingly, the tech industry is fighting back. Earlier this month, Politico I reported that A comparatively recent trade group, the National Artificial Intelligence Association (NAIA), has “distributed talking points to members of Congress and arranged field trips to local data centers to higher introduce their value to voters.” Tech firms, including Meta, have run promoting campaigns to speak the economic advantages of information centers to voters, the outlet wrote. In short, the tech industry's AI hopes are tied to a computing expansion of epic proportions, so for now it's secure to say that the server boom will proceed in 2026, as will the backlash and polarization that comes with it.
