WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday made an emphatic case for expanding data centers across the United States, wading into a politically charged issue ahead of the midterm elections and urging local communities to “let Data Reign.”
“The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor. If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign,” Trump wrote Monday morning in a post on social media.
The remarks align with Trump’s broader push to accelerate artificial intelligence development, a priority he has frequently framed as essential to ensuring the United States outpaces China in the global AI competition.
“If we kill the Golden Goose, you will only have yourselves to blame. China could not be happier with this anti Data Center movement. Actually, they can’t believe it is happening!” Trump wrote.
Data centers are the backbone of modern computing infrastructure, supplying the processing capacity needed to manage vast amounts of information, including the data that powers AI systems. These facilities often contain thousands of servers and can demand large amounts of land, electricity and water for cooling, raising concerns about pressure on local power grids and resources while generating relatively few permanent jobs compared with their physical footprint.
The issue of data centers has been a hot topic ahead of the midterm elections, with AI companies spending millions
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Vance acknowledged the backlash surrounding data centers, expressing his belief that the concern stems from higher utility and electricity bills. But he argued that this wouldn't be a problem if companies take advantage of deregulation efforts.
"I think probably 99% of the backlash to data centers has come in areas where building a data center means higher utility and higher electricity for the people on the ground," Vance said.
Earlier this month, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP's campaign committee,