Trump links opposition to US data centers to China
US President Donald Trump said that China may be involved in American communities’ opposition to the construction of artificial intelligence infrastructure, including data centers. Residents of Sterling, Virginia, reject such a link and explain their dissatisfaction by noise, emissions and other consequences of the facilities’ operations, the South China Morning Post reports.
In an interview with Fox News during a trip to California, Trump said that “a significant portion” of the opposition could be linked to China. He stressed the competition between the United States and China for leadership in AI and suggested that communities opposing the development of relevant infrastructure could be China-oriented.
At the same time, SCMP notes that published reports on Beijing’s possible influence do not prove that China created or substantially shaped the broad local opposition. In Sterling, protests arose from residents’ direct concerns about quality of life.
Claims of possible Chinese influence
The Bitcoin Policy Institute, a Washington think tank, claimed in two reports since May that China is attempting to slow the development of data centers in the United States by funding US climate nonprofit organizations and protests. Republicans in the House of Representatives cited these materials in June, calling for an investigation into possible foreign influence on domestic opposition to data centers.
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Bethany Allen, a researcher of Chinese influence operations at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, believes that the mass opposition is organic in nature and could not have been created by an artificial campaign. OpenAI also reported blocking two clusters of ChatGPT accounts that likely originated in China and posed as Americans. They spread claims that data centers raise electricity prices for US families, but the company found no evidence that this activity influenced public opinion.
Dispute in Loudoun
Sterling is located in Loudoun County in northern Virginia, which, according to the publication, has the highest number of data centers per capita in the world. About 250 data centers operate in the Data Centre Alley area, with more than 100 more planned. Tax revenues from technology companies for the county are estimated at $1.3 billion for this fiscal year.
According to Sterling district representative Koran Saines, Vantage, the company behind the VA2 data center opposite the homes of local residents Lindsay Shaw and Jessica Medeiros, initially said the facility would be powered by the local electricity grid. After the project received final approval in March 2023, the company learned from Dominion Energy that a quick connection would not be available and added gas turbines to the plan as an alternative energy source.
Vantage said that the VA2 complex complies with emissions requirements and local noise regulations. The company told residents that it was considering connecting to the electricity grid in 2040. Residents, for their part, complain about constant humming, nighttime lighting, the operation of gas turbines and diesel emissions.
