Americans are starting to turn against datacenters. 

In 2025, 25 datacenter projects have been cancelled in the US. This is 4 times more than in 2024. Why is this happening? 

As AI hype has been growing, companies have been spending hundreds of billions of dollars on building out datacenters. But as some of these datacenters were completed, people also started to feel the negative effects, and many communities are taking action. 

At least 99 data center projects are currently contested by the local communities. 

A report found that around 40% of the data centers that have faced sustained opposition have been cancelled. As AI hype has grown, and data center buildouts face other challenges as well, this number is likely to only go up. Meta’s former director of energy strategy expects only about 10% of the data center projects that are currently underway to ever be completed.

The biggest reasons for local opposition were water usage, energy consumption, and higher electricity prices. 

AI data centers consume an outrageous amount of energy, and cause water shortages in the areas they are built in. People living near data centers also have to deal with soaring electricity costs. Sometimes up to 265% compared to five years before. The datacenters also cause significant air pollution. 

Read the full story here: https://heatmap.news/politics/data-center-cancellations-2025