How do you stop Americans hating data centres? That is a key question for investors right now. This week Barclays warned clients that “today’s politics will shape tomorrow’s AI capacity”. In other words, popular hostility to data centres could undermine the tech boom.
This also matters for the upcoming US midterm elections. President Donald Trump recently derided critics for wanting to stay “backwards and poor”, and suggested China is malevolently fuelling public opposition. But even his Maga base is angry. Indeed, with just 20 per cent of voters in a YouGov poll saying they like the centres, this unease is arguably a major point of cross-party consensus.
What is really interesting is that while voters frame their fears around rising energy prices and water shortages, 43 and 15 per cent respectively support the construction of energy-guzzling Amazon fulfilment centres and chip factories, according to an Echelon poll. This suggests that voters aren’t just worried about the energy costs associated with data centres — the buildings have also become a tangible symbol for wider fears about AI.