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When blue-collar Trump voters and Maga-friendly midwest states join the same cause as Bernie Sanders and liberal California teachers, something novel is afoot. Last month it was the turn of the Republican party in Texas to express forthright opposition to the construction of datacentres for artificial intelligence, pending adequate environmental safeguards for local communities. Across the United States, similar campaigns are being waged, as voters from across the political spectrum rail against the outsize influence and power of big tech.
For the White House, which has made the rapid rollout of datacentres a priority in its AI action plan, the scale of the protests is an unwelcome surprise. One of Donald Trump’s first acts on returning to office was to authorise the deregulated “build, baby, build” approach demanded by the Silicon Valley backers who helped to fund his campaign. Industry giants such Amazon and Microsoft are driving an estimated $710bn worth of investment in datacentres this year, as they stake their future on staying ahead in the AI race.
The boom is also coming at a political price for states which have courted that capital through tax breaks and other subsidies. Local downsides come in the form of higher electricity bills for consumers and intense pressure on local water systems and grids, as a result of the centres’ voracious energy requirements. Alarmingly for Mr Trump, a sense that big tech’s needs are being prioritised over those of hard-pressed voters appears to be cutting through among the Maga rank and file ahead of midterm elections in November.
Democrats have been slow to spot the political potential of an issue that pits the interests of the world’s most powerful corporations against those of concerned local communities. But having in some cases aggressively competed to attract big-tech-related investment, senior figures such as Pennsylvania’s governor, Josh Shapiro, are now stressing the need to avoid an unregulated free-for-all.
That is a wiser place to be, as concerns over AI, rising energy costs and the environment intermesh. Over the course of 2025, opposition to datacentre construction led to an estimated $156bn worth of projects being blocked or suspended. The scale and intensity of the rebellion has been such that Washington has threatened to withhold federal funding from states deemed to be putting up too many obstacles. Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2028, criticised that approach as an attempt to “kneecap the states and let big tech write the rules”.
These are surely early skirmishes in a wider battle, as the politics of AI play out. A recent study by the Pew Research Center found that 56% of experts on AI think it will have a positive impact on the US over the next 20 years. Only 17% of all Americans thought the same.
The ambivalence reflects deep and understandable anxiety over the impact on jobs. But there is also a growing awareness of the social cost of a digital revolution that has made vast fortunes for a wealthy elite while outstripping politicians’ capacity to regulate associated harms. Silicon Valley should take the datacentre protests as a warning: citizens in the country at the cutting edge of the AI revolution are looking to take back control.
