U.S. President Donald Trump voiced support for new artificial intelligence (AI) data centers on Aug. 21, saying the technology projects bring “jobs and lots of money” to local communities.
“What it means for a community is jobs, lots of money and lower taxes,” Trump said Aug. 21 during comments to reporters.
As many as 3,000 new data centers are planned or proposed across the U.S. to power the AI and machine learning waves.
The potential proliferation of data centers has stirred opposition in some communities about electricity and water consumption and land-use impacts, including taking away farmland.
New AI data centers need more power and water to fuel and cool servers and computers for machine learning models than existing technology infrastructure.
Trump’s support for data centers comes as a number of Democrats, including those in progressive and Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) circles, and some Republicans voice concerns and opposition to new data centers ahead of the November midterm elections.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, back a federal moratorium on data centers. Data center moratoriums have been approved at the local and state levels, according to Interconnected Capital LLC.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, wants to tax AI and data centers, in part because of potential job losses machine learning could bring to the American economy, as well as technology infrastructure’s use of public and natural resources.
“If AI could disrupt half the workforce, we can’t wait until people lose their jobs to act,” Warren said last month. “The companies profiting from AI should help cushion the disruption. That starts with taxing the data centers powering it.”
Candidates on both sides of the partisan aisle are talking about guardrails or opposition to data centers on their midterm campaign trails.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidates in Ohio (Sherrod Brown), Florida (Angie Nixon) and Michigan (Abdul El-Sayed) have made their opposition to data centers central to their midterm campaigns.
Some Republican candidates, such as Florida gubernatorial frontrunner Byron Donalds and Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers, are calling for guardrails to protect against utility hikes as well as moratoriums in the face of public opposition to data centers.
“I am calling for a one-year moratorium on new data centers until we establish a fair, transparent approval process that puts local communities first,” Rogers said in a statement Aug. 21.
Rogers and Donalds are backed by Trump, who also said Aug. 21 it was “OK” if other Republicans oppose data center projects.
While Donalds wants guardrails on data centers, his underdog opponent in the Florida governor’s race, David Jolly, favors a statewide moratorium.
A recent GOP strategy memo said Republican candidates could suffer in Ohio and other states because of worries about data centers, according to a report by Axios.
Trump has previously said building new data centers is needed to help the U.S. win the global AI race.
On Aug. 21, Trump stressed local benefits of the projects, including construction jobs, tax revenue and infrastructure improvements, offered by data center developers and technology users “if you pick the right location.”
“If I were a community, I would want the data centers. It means jobs. It means income, and it means lower taxes,” Trump said during comments from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
New data centers are expected to create a significant number of construction jobs. But the facilities themselves traditionally do not house very many employees after they open.
Big tech companies, such as Alphabet/Google, Meta/Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft and some of the world’s richest billionaires — such as Elon Musk, Larry Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos — are leading the waves of money being invested in new AI data centers.
Hyperscalers and data center developers and investors (which include big Wall Street and private equity money) have offered to pay for infrastructure improvements or other community benefits for localities hosting the projects.
Technology interests and AI advocates say machine learning offers potentially unprecedented and revolutionary innovations and productivity gains.
The same technology companies and scions propelling the AI wave have been fostering warm relations with Trump since his return to the White House in 2025.
But others, especially in the political left, worry about the impacts of data centers, as well as broader, dystopian fears about AI taking away jobs, livelihoods and privacy.
“Ask Peter Thiel, ask Elon Musk, ask Mark Zuckerberg if they want one of these data centers in their own backyard,” Ocasio-Cortez said during a congressional hearing on data centers in July, referring to top technology executives.
While AI data center opponents worry about increased energy use straining power grids and increasing utility rates, Trump said his push for new projects to build their own power plants will add to energy supplies.
“It’s going to lower the costs of electricity,” Trump said.
A poll released in late June by CBS News and research firm YouGov found 50% of Americans surveyed oppose data centers in their communities.
Twenty percent supported data centers in their communities, while 30% were undecided.
The national poll indicates 59% of Democrats and 68% of liberals oppose data centers in their localities. That compares to 39% of Republicans and 45% of conservatives who oppose new data centers being located in their communities.
