Tech companies look to Argentina’s windswept Patagonia to build massive data centers
Tech companies look to Argentina’s windswept Patagonia to build massive data centers. Illustration: Ben Hickey/The GuardianConservatives split from Silicon Valley allies as datacenter backlash growsTech companies have underestimated the opposition to energy-hungry datacenters – and experts predict the pushback will intensifyHello, and welcome to TechScape.
What happened
Datacenters have become a stand-in for grievances against technology companies – harms to children, the feeling of too-rapid societal change with no opt-out, the loss of control over our attention, the extreme concentration of political and economic power in the hands of a few inhumane men – and the tide of that resentment is rising. Skip NavigationMarketsBusinessInvestingTechPolitics & PolicyVideoWatchlistInvesting ClubPROLivestreamMenuKey PointsData centers are being built across the country as Wall Street invests billions in the computing buildout for artificial intelligence.
Companies are racing into rural America to build not only data centers but facilities for the businesses constructing and servicing them. “Americans often find it easier to put the blame on a nebulous other, rather than to actually look at themselves. ”What WIRED’s WritingMy colleague Paresh Dave wrote an eye-opening piece recently about Meta’s push to build out a robot workforce in data centers. Tech dissection: datacenters divide Silicon Valley from US conservatives (except Trump)Silicon Valley has underestimated the backlash to datacenters in the US by a country mile.
“Data centers have unfortunately become THE symbolic representation of the asymmetric upside for a very narrow tech elite and a class that are untrustworthy. The wider TechScape ‘Scary’: how misinformation and AI hallucinations are infiltrating Australia’s parliament AI slopper in chief: Trump turns to social media amid tough questions The datacenter backlash is bringing the entire political spectrum together – against big tech billionaires Explore more on these topicsTechnologyTechScape newsletterDatacenters – USSilicon ValleynewslettersShareReuse this contentMost viewedMost viewed
The wider picture
CNBCAI data centers house massive computer servers filled with powerful chips and systems that are needed to run AI models and workloads. The idea that Americans hate data centers because of a nebulous foreign influence operation—not because of a slew of environmental worries, an oligarch-friendly political system, or a general resistance to AI—is a handy excuse for the technology’s backers and their allies. “It's important to realize that as data centers automate some of the more technical work and reduce on-site jobs, operators could also save money on items such as food and janitorial services—and all those people would also be losing work. ”What We’re ReadingAn outrageous story is unfolding in Arkansas, where Entergy tried to get a restraining order against the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, which published details of the utility’s data center-related deal with Google that were obtained via a records request.
And The Washington Post reports on a massive new influx of state legislation around data centers heading into the 2026-2027 legislative year. Skip to main contentSkip to navigation The opposition to datacenters has crossed party lines. Illustration: Ben Hickey/The GuardianView image in fullscreenThe opposition to datacenters has crossed party lines. The opposition to datacenters in the US has become so widespread that it is crossing partisan lines. Several prominent US conservatives, including the governors of Texas and Florida, have condemned datacenters’ enormous electricity usage.
What has been reported
Both states’ governors hew closely to Trump on the majority of issues, but both have implemented restrictions on datacenters’ access to their states’ power grids. All of the candidates in the race to become Ohio’s next governor, including a member of Trump’s own administration, have called for restrictions on new datacenters. Meanwhile, the liberal governor of New York has implemented a yearlong moratorium on new hyper-scale datacenters. I’m anti-the people who run datacenters,” Benny Johnson, a popular rightwing commentator on social media, said in response to Palihapitiya, adding: “I have critical policymakers on my live show daily.
“Any politician opposed to data centers is unqualified to hold public office,” Gavin Baker, an influential venture capitalist, tweeted on Saturday. Scotland and Australia are seeing their own backlashes unite bitter political foes in opposition to datacenters, fueled by the widespread perception of Silicon Valley as an extractive, neocolonial force. You can ask a question for future editions by emailing us at techscape. us@theguardian. com. ***This week, readers ask: what skills do I need to learn to stay employable as more companies adopt AI?
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What happens next
Investors are bracing for concerted political resistance as some residents mobilize to try to prevent data centers from being built in their community. watch nowVIDEO11:0311:03The investors racing to cash in on the AI boomMarkets and Politics Digital Original VideoAt a July protest against data centers in Lubbock, Texas, state Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller took the microphone to share his concerns about data center land grabs in his home state. "When [data centers] first started popping up, nobody really knew much about them," he said at the protest.
A map showing data centers across the United States. S. for future data centers reached about $6 billion in the first half of 2026 — a 79% increase from last year, according to commercial real estate firm Avison Young. Data centers represent 27% of development sites in the U. National Association of Home Builders"Median land prices in Northern Virginia are nowhere close to those figures," a July brief from the National Association of Home Builders says, citing data showing the median price in Loudoun County in 2025 was $125,000 per acre.
"Concerns in the communitiesResidents in many communities are worried that the data centers will create a drain on water and energy infrastructure and that electricity prices for all customers would be raised to cover the costs of powering the data centers.
The report has been compiled by The Daily Waves using information reported across theguardian.com, cnbc.com, wired.com. Details are presented according to the information available at the time of publication and may change as authorities, organisers or other relevant parties provide updates.