Resistance in the United States regarding the AI data center is increasing. Political action organizations supporting the expansion of the AI data center have launched advertising campaigns in Kansas, Ohio, and Wisconsin in an attempt to reverse public opinion. Meanwhile, the latest surveys show that the proportion of American adults opposed to the construction of new data centers near their residences has risen to 61%.
This controversy is no longer just a matter of site selection at the community level. As projects are halted, approval processes slow down, and local bans increase, data center construction is gradually becoming a real issue in state-level elections, industrial investment, and credit assessments in the United States.
Opposition ratio rose within four months
A survey conducted by the Annenberg Center for Public Policy at the University of Pennsylvania among 1,320 American adults found that from June 16 to July 19, 61% of respondents opposed the construction of new data centers in their areas, a higher proportion than the 49% recorded in surveys in February and March of this year.
By party affiliation, 69% of Democratic respondents expressed opposition, while the opposition rates among Republicans and independent voters were 54% and 53%, respectively. The survey also showed that even among those who frequently use AI, the opposition rate reached 60%, which is not significantly different from the 64% among those who never use AI.
State elections and approval processes are heating up simultaneously
Supported by the organization Build American AI, which is backed by Super Political Action Committees Leading, the, and Future, an advertising campaign has been launched in the aforementioned three states. The organization stated that "the loudest and most extreme voices" should not determine the future of the United States, but did not disclose the full budget, only indicating that the spending amounted to several million dollars.
U.S. President Donald Trump also spoke publicly this week, criticizing communities that resist data centers as becoming "backward and poor," and calling on local areas to accept more data center construction. He also linked this backlash to the Sino-U.S. competition.
At the local policy level, New York has implemented a suspension order for ultra-large data centers, Texas has paused some approval processes, and cities such as Austin and Jersey City have also introduced restrictions or bans. Data Center Watch Statistics show that in the first quarter of 2026, a total of 75 projects were prevented or postponed, with a total scale of approximately 130 billion US dollars.
Mining companies turning to AI also encounter old problems
As resistance increases, lending institutions have begun to factor in the uncertainties of such projects into their credit risk assessments. In other words, community opposition and delays in approval are no longer just construction issues; they have begun to affect financing costs and the feasibility of the projects.
This situation also puts some Bitcoin mining companies that have switched to AI infrastructure under similar pressure. The right to connect to the grid, which mining companies obtain, usually takes many years to acquire. Therefore, some companies are renting these resources to AI laboratories instead of continuing to use them for Bitcoin mining.
- TeraWulf and Anthropic sign a 20-year, $19 billion lease agreement
- Hut 8 Texas sites will be used for a project worth approximately $9.8 billion AI
- IREN and Nvidia reach a cloud service agreement worth approximately $3.4 billion
Additional information:The article also mentioned that Bitcoin mining farms have previously faced community lawsuits due to noise issues on multiple occasions. In May 2026, nine residents of Granbury, Texas, sued MARA Holdings, claiming that the noise from their mining farm caused insomnia, headaches, and tinnitus.
