The year data centers went from backend to center stage

There was a time when most Americans had little knowledge about their local data center. Server farms, the invisible but important backbone of the Internet, have long been a point of interest for people outside the tech industry, not to mention an issue with particularly captivating 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 sought to combat America’s ever-growing computing backlog. Data Center Watch, an organization that tracks anti-data center activity, He writes that There are currently 142 different activist groups in 24 states organizing against data center developments.

Activists have a variety of interests: environmental and potential Health effects Of these projects, Controversial methods Where artificial intelligence is being used, and more importantly, is the fact that many new additions to the US energy grid may lead to higher local electricity bills.

Such a sudden populist uprising seems to be a natural response to an industry that has grown so quickly that it is now appearing in people’s backyards. In fact, as the AI ​​industry has exploded to astonishing levels, so has the cloud computing business. Recent US Census Bureau data It showsSince 2021, spending on building data centers has increased by a staggering 331%. Total spending on these projects amounts to hundreds of billions of dollars. So many new data centers have been proposed in recent months that many experts believe most of them won’t make it. Indeed, it is not possible – It is being built.

This construction shows no signs of slowing down in the meantime. Major Big Tech companies have done so – including Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon Announce everything High expectations for capital spending for the new year, most of which will likely go towards such projects.

New AI infrastructure is being pushed not just by Silicon Valley but by Washington, D.C., where the Trump administration has made AI a key plank of its agenda. The Stargate project, announced in January, has paved the way for the construction of massive AI infrastructure by 2025. Supposed evangelism “Remanufacturing in the United States.”

In the process of dramatically expanding itself, an industry that had little public exposure has suddenly been thrust into the spotlight — and is now experiencing a backlash. Danny Sendejas, an activist with the non-profit organization MediaJustice, has personally been involved in a number of actions against data centers, including a protest in Memphis, Tennessee, earlier this year, where local residents came out to denounce Giant expansiona 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 will stop anytime soon,” he added. “I think it will continue to build, and we will see more wins – and more projects will be stopped.”

Evidence supporting Cendejas’ assessment is everywhere you look. Across the country, communities responded to the newly announced server farms in the same way a normal person might react to a highly contagious pandemic. In Michigan, for example, where developers are currently located Looking 16 different locations In order to potentially build a data center, protesters recently descended on the state capital, Saying things like: “Michiganites don’t want data centers in our backyards and in our communities.” Meanwhile, in Wisconsin — another development hotspot — angry locals seem to have gotten the hang of it lately. Flex Microsoft of using their city as home to a new 244-acre data center. In Southern California, the small town of Imperial Valley recently I filed a lawsuit To revoke the county’s approval of the data center project, citing environmental concerns as a rationale.

The discontent surrounding these projects has become so intense that politicians believe they could make or break certain candidates at the ballot box. In November, it was reported that rising electricity costs – which many believe are driven by the AI ​​boom – could become Critical issue Which determines the 2026 midterm elections.

“The whole connection to everyone’s rising energy bills — I think that’s what made this issue so clear to people,” Sendejas told TechCrunch. “A lot of us are struggling month to month. At the same time, there’s this massive expansion of data centers…[People are wondering] Where does all that money come from? How do our local governments award subsidies and public funds to incentivize these projects, when there is so much need for them in our communities?”

In some cases, protests appear to be successful, even stopping (albeit temporarily) planned developments. Data center monitoring He claims so Development projects worth approximately $64 billion have been obstructed or delayed as a result of popular opposition. Sendejas is certainly a believer in the idea that organized labor can stop corporations in their tracks. “All this public pressure is working,” he said, noting that he could feel “very palpable anger” over the issue.

Not surprisingly, the tech industry is fighting back. Earlier this month, Politico I mentioned that A relatively new trade group, the National Association for Artificial Intelligence (NAIA), is “distributing talking points to members of Congress and organizing field trips to local data centers to better inform voters of their value.” Tech companies, including Meta, are running ad campaigns to sell voters about the economic benefits of data centers, the outlet wrote. In short: The tech industry’s AI hopes are tied to building computing of epic proportions, so it’s now safe to say that in 2026 the server boom will continue, as will the backlash and polarization surrounding it.