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A new ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos survey finds 57% of Americans believe AI is harmful to society, while 66% oppose new data center construction nationally and 72% would oppose one in their own community. Political strategists tell CNET that opposition spans party lines and could influence midterm election outcomes, particularly for candidates who backed data center projects without community input.
Jas Khaira, who leads Blackstone's new San Francisco-based AI unit BXN1, said at TechCrunch Disrupt that concerns about debt tied to AI infrastructure buildout are exaggerated. He described Blackstone as the largest non-hyperscaler owner of compute, citing deals including a $5 billion commitment to neocloud Crux AI and backing for chip startup Etched, alongside its pioneering 2023 lending structure with CoreWeave that uses GPUs and customer contracts as collateral.
Ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms, tech policy topics like AI regulation, data center construction, privacy and child online safety are becoming prominent campaign issues. Tech executives are making large political donations, including Elon Musk's roughly $366 million to conservative causes, Andreessen Horowitz's $91.3 million to Republican-aligned groups, and a $25 million gift from OpenAI President Greg Brockman and his wife to a pro-AI PAC. A Gallup poll found 70% of US adults, across party lines, oppose local data center construction due to concerns about electricity and water use.
A new study from the Houston Advanced Research Center models what happens to Texas air quality if all currently planned data centers connect to the grid using its expected energy mix. Under that scenario, fine particle pollution would more than triple to its highest level since 2006, NOx emissions would rise 136 percent, and CO2 pollution would climb 90 percent above 2025 levels within five years.
President Trump posted on Truth Social that AI data center operators and hyperscalers will be required to generate their own electricity and share or sell surplus power back to local communities. He framed this as a way to offset rising electricity costs and other burdens these facilities impose on nearby residents.
Samsung Electronics is reportedly planning to convert its Xian factory to produce 286-layer NAND flash chips by year-end, while SK Hynix aims to upgrade its Dalian plant to make chips with 240 or more layers, according to Reuters sources. Both companies are racing to boost advanced memory output as AI data center demand grows, while fending off rising competition from Chinese manufacturers such as CXMT and YMTC.
Citadel founder Ken Griffin told the Future of Global Markets Conference in New York that companies have been inconsistent at extracting value from AI models despite rising spending. He said investors are 'almost certainly' in an AI bubble, while still expecting AI to create new opportunities and reshape competition. Griffin's comments came as Anthropic prepares to file for a stock market listing and reportedly plans to spend $750 billion on computing power.
Germany's government has amended its 2023 Energy Efficiency Act to drop a requirement that new data centers recycle waste heat into municipal heating systems, replacing it with an obligation merely to study the possibility. The move follows industry complaints, including from the German Data Center Association, that the original rule made building data centers in the country nearly impossible. The amended bill is expected to go before the German parliament for ratification soon.
President Trump posted on Truth Social that data center companies should strike financial deals with nearby communities, including paying dividends to residents or local governments, claiming this has turned unpopular projects into popular ones. The comments follow examples like a Pennsylvania developer's $10,000 household grant offer and Amazon Web Services' pledge of over $1 billion for data center towns over five years.
President Trump posted on Truth Social that data center operators should strike financial deals with communities, including paying residents a 'dividend,' to boost public support for the facilities. He said this approach has turned previously unpopular projects into popular ones in areas he has observed.
In his book 'Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech's Data Empires,' journalist Paris Marx recounts visiting heavily secured data centers in Virginia and Ireland operated by companies including Microsoft. He reports that Amazon, Microsoft and Google together control 59% of hyperscale data center capacity, and that modern AI-driven facilities can require roughly triple the power of older large data centers, around 50 megawatts previously versus much higher now.
HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery told CNBC that AI is transformational and will boost productivity across the bank, but warned investors to be selective when backing data center infrastructure. He said quality of tenancy agreements and contract pricing vary widely, with some deals far less sound than others.