It is not yet a widespread rebellion, but centers of revolt are multiplying across the country. Movements against data centers are growing every day in the United States, as these infrastructures develop to fuel the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution.
The State of New York, with a Democratic majority, became the first to promulgate a moratorium, Tuesday July 14, to limit its proliferation. The text blocks the construction of the largest data centers, above 50 megawatts (MW), gigantic warehouses housing thousands of servers, which consume as much electricity as an American city of 50,000 inhabitants.
Other states or communities are considering similar measures, often under local popular pressure. According to data from the Data Center Watch collective, 75 major projects were blocked or delayed during the first quarter of 2026, as many as in all of 2025, and 300 texts had been submitted across the country to legislate on the subject.
These centers have been part of the American landscape since the development of the Internet, of which they are the basic infrastructure, ensuring the operation of online services and the storage of data that billions of Internet users deposit in the cloud every day. But the rise of artificial intelligence, which requires exponential development of computing power, is leading to the frantic construction of new capabilities.
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