There was a time when most Americans had little to no knowledge of their local data center. For a long time, the invisible but critical backbone of the Internet, server farms were rarely a point of interest to people outside the tech industry, let alone a topic with particularly compelling political resonance.
Well, as of 2025, it looks like those days are officially over.
Over the past 12 months, data centers have inspired protests in dozens of states as regional activists have sought to combat America’s ever-increasing computer overcrowding. Data Center Watch, an organization that monitors anti-data center activism, writes that There are currently 142 different activist groups in 24 states organizing against data center developments.
Activists have a variety of concerns: the environment and the potential health effects of these works, h controversial ways in which artificial intelligence is being used and, more importantly, the fact that so many new additions to America’s power grid may be driving up local power bills.
Such a sudden populist uprising seems to be a natural response to an industry that has grown so rapidly that it is now appearing in people’s backyards. Indeed, as the AI industry has grown to dizzying heights, so has the cloud computing industry. Recent data from the US Census Bureau shows thatby 2021, construction spending on data centers has soared 331%. Spending on these projects totals hundreds of billions of dollars. So many new data centers have been proposed in recent months that many experts believe that the majority of them will not… and, indeed, it could not — to be built.
This buildout shows no signs of slowing down in the meantime. Major tech giants – including Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon – have all announced significant capital expenditure forecasts for the new year, the majority of which will likely be allocated to such projects.
The new AI infrastructure is being pushed not just from Silicon Valley but from Washington, where the Trump administration has made AI a centerpiece of its agenda. The Stargate Project, announced in January, laid the groundwork for the massive creation of 2025 AI infrastructure by heralding a supposed “Reindustrialization of the United States.”
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In the process of exponential scaling, an industry that once had little public exposure has suddenly found itself in the spotlight—and now it’s facing a backlash. Danny Cendejas, an activist with the nonprofit MediaJustice, has personally participated in a number of actions against data centers, including a protest that took place in Memphis, Tennessee, earlier this year where locals came out to denounce the expansion of the Colossusa project from Elon Musk’s startup xAI.
Cendejas told TechCrunch that he meets new people every week who express interest in organizing against a data center in their community. “I don’t think this is going to stop anytime soon,” he said. “I think it’s going to continue to build and we’re going to see more wins — more projects are going to stop.”
Evidence to support Cendejas’ assessment is everywhere. Across the country, communities have reacted to the recently announced server farms the same way the average person might react to the presence of a highly contagious plague. In Michigan, for example, where the developers are currently located looking at 16 different locations over possible construction of data centers, protesters recently descended on the state capital, saying things like: “Michigans don’t want data centers in our backyards, in our communities.” Meanwhile, in Wisconsin — another growth hot spot — angry locals appear to have recently prevented Microsoft from using their city as a home for a new 244-acre data center. In Southern California, the tiny city of Imperial Valley recently filed a lawsuit to overturn her county’s approval of a data center project, citing environmental concerns as the rationale.
Resentment around these projects has become so intense that politicians believe it could make or break certain candidates at the polls. In November, it was reported that the rising cost of electricity – which many believe is due to the boom in artificial intelligence – could become a critical issue which determines the 2026 midterm elections.
“The whole connection to everyone’s energy bills going up — I think that’s what really made it an issue that’s so intense for people,” Cendejas told TechCrunch. “So many of us are struggling month to month. Meanwhile, there’s this massive expansion of data centers…[People are wondering] Where does all this money come from? How do our local governments give grants and public funds to incentivize these projects when there is so much need in our communities?”
In some cases, the protests seem to be paying off and even stalling (even temporarily) the planned developments. Data Center Monitoring claims that Some $64 billion worth of developments have been blocked or delayed as a result of grassroots opposition. Cendejas certainly believes in the idea that organized action can stop companies in their tracks. “All this public pressure is working,” he said, noting that he could sense a “very palpable anger” around the issue.
Not surprisingly, the tech industry is fighting back. Earlier this month, Politico stated that a relatively new trade group, the National Artificial Intelligence Association (NAIA), “distributes talking points to members of Congress and organizes local data center tours to better introduce constituents to their value.” Tech companies, including Meta, are running ad campaigns to sell voters on the economic benefits of data centers, the agency wrote. In short: The tech industry’s AI hopes are tied to a computational construct of epic proportions, so for now it’s safe to say that in 2026 server growth will continue, as will the backlash and polarization surrounding it.
