A text message hits your phone reminding you it’s your mom’s birthday. You log into your bank’s mobile app to see if you have enough cash to buy her flowers. Once that’s done, you rely on your phone to give real-time data so you can avoid traffic jams, because you’re already late for the party. All that technology works faster and better because of the boom in data centers, which power artificial intelligence programs that make cell phones faster, allow online banking and even real time weather updates. More than 4,500 centers were built in the U.S., most since the 2000s, with a 70 percent jump since 2023 U.S. and another 1,500 new data centers in various stages of development, according to the non-profit Pew Research Center.
As much as the support from these data centers powers our lives and, in many ways, makes them more efficient, they are also becoming a flashpoint for public discontent in the U.S. The backlash stems from fears over potentially rising utility bills, noise pollution, and unsightly warehouses constructed near homes. The outcry has become so intense that politicians are starting to respond to the proliferation of grassroots organizations that oppose the centers, including through moratoriums on building these facilities.
