Study shows state and local opposition to new data centers is gaining steam [View all]

Source: NBC News

Nov. 14, 2025, 5:00 AM EST


A new study found the total value of blocked or delayed data center projects during a three-month stretch earlier this year exceeded the total in the prior two years, signaling accelerating opposition to a foundational piece of artificial intelligence development in the U.S.

The study — conducted by Data Center Watch, a project of AI intelligence firm 10a Labs that tracks local data center activity — found that an estimated $98 billion in data center projects were blocked or delayed from late March through June. That compares to $64 billion worth of projects that were blocked or delayed between 2023 and late March 2025.

“Opposition to data centers is accelerating,” the authors wrote in the report, shared exclusively with NBC News. “As political resistance builds and local organizing becomes more coordinated, this is now a sustained and intensifying trend.”

Leaders in both parties are locked in competition to encourage tech giants to put sprawling data centers in their states, looking for an economic leg up and an innovation edge in the early days of the artificial intelligence boom. But resident backlash has intensified in recent months as the projects have contributed to rising electricity bills, among other concerns.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/economics/state-local-opposition-new-data-centers-gaining-steam-rcna243838