The year data centers moved from backend to center stage

There was a time when most Americans knew little or nothing about their local data center. Long the invisible but essential backbone of the Internet, server farms have rarely been of interest to those outside the tech industry, much less an issue with particularly compelling political resonance.

Well, as of 2025, it looks like those days are officially over.

Over the past 12 months, data centers have sparked protests in dozens of states, as regional activists sought to combat the ever-increasing accumulation of computing resources in the United States. Data Center Watch, an organization that tracks anti-data center activism, writes that There are currently 142 different activist groups in 24 states organizing against data center development.

Activists have various concerns: environmental and potential health impacts of these projects, the controversial ways in which AI is used and, more importantly, the fact that so many new additions to the US power grid could be drive up local electricity bills.

Such a sudden populist uprising seems like a natural response to an industry that has grown so quickly that it is now appearing in people’s backyards. Indeed, as the AI ​​industry has reached dizzying heights, the cloud computing sector has also seen dizzying growth. Recent data from the US Census Bureau shows thatsince 2021, data center construction spending has skyrocketed 331%. Spending on these projects runs into the hundreds of billions of dollars. So many new data centers have been proposed in recent months that many experts believe the majority of them won’t be. and, indeed, he could not – be built.

This build shows no signs of slowing down in the meantime. Major tech giants including Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon have everything is announced significant capital expenditure projections for the new year, the majority of which will likely be spent on such projects.

New AI infrastructure is not only being pushed by Silicon Valley, but also by Washington, DC, where the Trump administration has made artificial intelligence a central part of its agenda. The Stargate Project, announcement in January, set the stage for the massive development of AI infrastructure in 2025 by announcing a supposed “reindustrialization of the United States”.

Growing exponentially, an industry that once had little public visibility has suddenly been thrust into the spotlight – and is now facing backlash. Danny Cendejas, an activist with the nonprofit MediaJustice, has been personally involved in a number of actions against data centers, including a protest that took place in Memphis, Tennessee, earlier this year where residents came out to denounce the Colossus 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 it’s going to stop anytime soon,” he said. “I think it’s going to continue to grow and we’re going to see more wins – more projects are going to be stopped.”

The evidence supporting Cendejas’ assessment is everywhere you look. Across the country, communities have reacted to recently announced server farms in the same way that the average person would react to the presence of a highly contagious plague. In Michigan, for example, where developers are currently I look at 16 different places for the potential construction of a data center, protesters recently invaded the state capitol, say things like: “Michiganians don’t want data centers in our yards, in our communities.” Meanwhile, in Wisconsin – another development hot spot – angry residents appear to have recently dissuaded Microsoft to use their city as the home of a new 244-acre data center. In Southern California, the small town of Imperial Valley recently filed a complaint to overturn his county’s approval of a data center project, citing environmental concerns as justification.

Discontent surrounding these plans has become so intense that politicians believe it could make or break some candidates at the polls. In November, it was reported that rising electricity costs – which many believe are due to the AI ​​boom – could become a critical question which determines the 2026 midterm elections.

“The whole connection with everyone’s rising energy bills — I think that’s what really makes it such a big problem for people,” Cendejas told TechCrunch. “Many of us are facing month-to-month challenges. Meanwhile, there is this huge expansion of data centers…[People are wondering] Where does all this money come from? How do our local governments distribute grants and public funds to encourage these projects, when there are so many needs in our communities?

In some cases, the protests appear to be bearing fruit and even halting (if only temporarily) planned developments. Data Center Monitoring claims that Development projects worth $64 billion have been blocked or delayed due to popular opposition. Cendejas certainly believes in the idea that organized action can stop businesses in their tracks. “All this public pressure is working,” he said, noting that he could feel “very palpable anger” around the issue.

Unsurprisingly, the tech industry is fighting back. Earlier this month, Politico reported that a relatively new trade group, the National Artificial Intelligence Association (NAIA), “distributes talking points to members of Congress and conducts field trips to local data centers to better present their value to voters.” Tech companies, including Meta, have launched advertising campaigns to convince voters of the economic benefits of data centers, the outlet wrote. Bottom line: The tech industry’s hopes for AI rest on computing development of epic proportions. So for now, it’s safe to say that in 2026, the rise of servers will continue, as will the backlash and polarization surrounding it.