Data Centers Are Running Into Stiff Community Opposition

SPRING CITY, Pa. (AP) — Tech companies looking to plunge billions of dollars into ever-bigger data centers to power artificial intelligence and cloud computing are increasingly being voted down. Communities across the United States are learning from each other’s battles as data center developers branch out in search of faster connections to power sources. Once-sleepy municipal board meetings in farming towns and growing suburbs now feature crowded rooms of angry residents pressuring local officials to reject the requests. One commercial real estate consultant says “it’s becoming a huge problem” and it’s raising alarms among Big Tech firms, electricity providers, labor unions and other AI stakeholders.