President Donald Trump addressed growing community resistance to constructing data centers in American towns and cities on Monday morning via Truth Social.
In his post labeled as a “truth,” the former president stated: “The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor.” He further declared that communities seeking economic success with lower taxes and more jobs must “let Data Reign.”
Trump warned that communities rejecting such facilities would face consequences, adding: “If we kill the Golden Goose, you will only have yourselves to blame. China could not be happier with this anti Data Center movement.”
Vice President JD Vance discussed the president’s remarks on Monday, noting that data centers are vital to the AI economy but building them requires power infrastructure that can increase local utility costs. “I think probably 99% of the backlash to data centers has come in areas where building a data center means higher utilities and higher electricity for the people on the ground,” Vance explained.
Vance also emphasized that tech companies could address cost concerns by constructing their own power plants as part of their facilities, which would feed electricity back into the grid. “If you build a data center, you should be putting power back into the grid, not taking it out,” he said. “And if that is happening, I don’t think the data centers are that controversial. It’s when the utility bills get so much higher, that’s when it’s a real problem.”
A January survey by Politico found that 37% of respondents viewed new job opportunities as the primary benefit of having a nearby data center, while 29% identified rising electricity costs as their main drawback.
