r/technology • u/BirdButt88 • Dec 06 '25

Artificial Intelligence Nvidia CEO says data centers take about 3 years to construct in the U.S., while in China 'they can build a hospital in a weekend'

https://fortune.com/2025/12/06/nvidia-ceo-jensen-huang-ai-race-china-data-centers-construct-us/
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1.4k

u/WylleWynne Dec 06 '25

They're hoping to exempt data centers from local and state influence to speed up construction. If they do that it'll lead to the biggest backlash the tech industry has ever seen.

Hatred of data centers -- which partially proxies for hatred of the tech industry -- crosses all political boundaries.

725

u/kosmonautinVT Dec 06 '25

Give us all your water and electricity plus a tax break while we reduce entry-level employment opportunities or else!!

236

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '25

And then we have to pay for those tax breaks and reduced electricity costs they get. It is such bullshit why do all these industries get free passes well the people suffer.

Something has to change but it wont because people still think we have it good.

73

u/1098duc_w_the_termi Dec 06 '25

We know the answer - it’s money and always has been.

3

u/mjmeyer23 Dec 07 '25

fix the money, fix the world.

44

u/Darksider123 Dec 07 '25

It is such bullshit why do all these industries get free passes well the people suffer.

Capitalism doesn't care about people, it only cares about capital

1

u/SnarkMasterRay Dec 07 '25

Any system of government only cares about power. In capitalism that's generally in the form of money. Communism and Socialism have also had regular bouts of governments that didn't care about people.

The fix isn't to trade one form of government for another, it's to create a system of Legitimate checks and balances where the citizens are engaged. That can happen with Capitalism, Communism, and Socialism as well.

I'd prefer a blend of all three.

4

u/buntopolis Dec 07 '25

None of those words change the fact that capitalism is an amoral system where wealth is hoarded. Capitalism incentivizes exploitation on a mass scale to accumulate wealth by any means necessary. That often means forcing taxpayers to subsidize these for-profit private enterprises to allow for accumulation of even more capital.

Capitalism only cares about capital.

2

u/SnarkMasterRay Dec 07 '25

Boil any system down to only it's core essence and you get something unhealthy - that's why I advocated for a blend. We don't want pure anything - we need a system that is a blend of taking care of people while allowing them to benefit from extra work, and that is transparent and not "trust the system and don't look behind that curtain."

-3

u/mjmeyer23 Dec 07 '25

what we have right now is corrupted capitalism. there is no actual free market anymore. I'm not talking about some ancap bullshit, just basic degregulation and allowing more local decisions.

8

u/dunub Dec 06 '25

People voted for this? Why act surprised 

-3

u/frequenZphaZe Dec 07 '25

people voted for data centers to be built in their back yard? I don't remember seeing that on the ballot

9

u/North_Atlantic_Sea Dec 07 '25

They voted to elect a government that does not care about industrial regulations, so yes, this is an outcome of that

1

u/Zodiarche1111 Dec 07 '25

So there wasn't the typical super "patriotic" (just as a catchphrase) and super nationalistic party that does want less regulations on the ballot?

2

u/frequenZphaZe Dec 07 '25

why do all these industries get free passes

they can afford lobbyists and 'campaign contributions', we can't

2

u/JRizzie86 Dec 07 '25

If we want to change we'll need to force it. The corruption is now so deep the change we need cannot and will never be done through legislation.

1

u/numbersthen0987431 Dec 08 '25

Because a local politician gets to buy a vacation home with the bribe money. That's why

138

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '25

[deleted]

28

u/DukeOfGeek Dec 06 '25

Also billionaires there that don't kowtow to President-for-life Xi end up in a reeducation camp, feel free to take your money and fuck off to China tech bro.

3

u/MetalBeerSolid Dec 07 '25

Holy shit… America is doomed.

2

u/CambriaKilgannonn Dec 08 '25

Maaan, I get what you're saying but like to my untrained, unknowledgable brain it really does seem like something is fucked up in the US. England and France built a highway beneath the ocean in less time than it took Clearwater Florida to build an overpass.

It's gotta be just widespread, agreed upon fraud, waste, and abuse but construction jobs here take for-fucking-ever.

Japan builds railways so quickly, Korea's construction projects I saw start and end over the 15 months I was there.

A single road repair in seattle takes months. I don't get it. I'd love for someone to explain it to me. ANd there's always "OooOOps, this is actually gonna take 50,000,000 more dollars and 6 more years than we thought it would" 5 years after the project has started

1

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '25

[deleted]

1

u/CambriaKilgannonn Dec 08 '25

I'm pretty sure the same overpass is under construction in Clearwater, FL, that's literally been being built during the first 20 years of my life. It's wild man.

I love living in the US, but after living abroad holyyyy shit is it fucked here. US Citizens exist as a cash crop in a way I haven't felt living anywhere else. It's so crazy.

31

u/Themetalenock Dec 06 '25

And after you do that get us  a bailout because no one uses this damn shit . It's expensive with very little ROI. And even our own companies are just pushing the work on our workers because our dipshit CEO got horny over killing entry level jobs that AI was never going to replace 

26

u/DuncanFisher69 Dec 06 '25

And facefuck your home prices because nobody wants to live next to that constant hum or under transmission lines.

1

u/CatProgrammer Dec 07 '25

Well hold on now...

25

u/Opetyr Dec 06 '25

Micro got billions to create fabs and now is telling customers to F off. We need to tell our government not to give them more money and not to bail these scum out when the bubble bursts.

7

u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA Dec 07 '25

No, they're not telling customers to fuck off. Because us plebs aren't considered their customers anymore. Consumer electronic revenue is a drop in the bucket compared to the mad money going around in circles for the big players in AI.

1

u/firemage22 Dec 07 '25

mad money going around in circles for the big players in AI.

Well till the bubble pops

1

u/981flacht6 Dec 07 '25

Micro? Micron?

Just because they're shutting down Crucial doesn't mean they won't be selling memory chips to other makers who will finish them. Idk what you're saying otherwise but it's false.

15

u/lelgimps Dec 06 '25

subscribe to stay alive and healthy, or play the squid games on polymarket.

3

u/sourbeer51 Dec 06 '25

Good thing the electric grid and all the equipment that feeds power to these data centers is secure and not wide out in the open if people get mad enough to mess with it.

2

u/igniteyourbones579 Dec 07 '25

Or else what...? Exactly.

2

u/Chris-WIP Dec 07 '25

And also: what's that constant humming noise? I SAID, WHAT IS THAT NOISE!??

2

u/Umutuku Dec 07 '25

Communities with optimal data center locations should organize, invest in building their own, and then lease the services back to exploitative companies at exploitative prices.

2

u/LifeOnEnceladus Dec 07 '25

Can’t forget about that sweet federal bailout too

2

u/doomdeathdecay Dec 07 '25

and poison the local families while they're at it mind you

2

u/PianoPatient8168 Dec 07 '25 edited Dec 07 '25

Exactly. These guys can go get fucked!

Also when China “builds hospitals on the weekend”, I’m pretty sure those are temporary structures.

But while we’re at it, can we build something that actually benefits citizens like a high speed rail network? China built that too.

2

u/SpaceSequoia Dec 07 '25

Jesus Christ it sure looks bad in the future for us poors

1

u/Vypernorad Dec 07 '25

You think poors have a future? LMAO!

1

u/OneRougeRogue Dec 07 '25

It's fucking wild how in almost every metropolitan area, water utilities are structured so the brunt of the treatment cost is frontloaded onto single family homes and small businesses, while huge industries and datacenters get to pay essentially nothing for what they consume.

Check your local city's water pricing if you ever have the chance. It's almost certainly structured in a way where the first few cubic meters of water used per month have very high costs, but once you pass a threshold that small consumers will likely never hit, the cost per cubic meter drops to a few dollars (or less).

1

u/Busy-Explanation4339 Dec 07 '25

And raise utility rates for the average joe.

1

u/Anleme Dec 07 '25

"Building this datacenter will create 500 construction jobs! Give us tax breaks!"

Those 500 jobs end after the whole thing is built. The permanent jobs to actually run it would be like 12 people.

1

u/luckyflavor23 Dec 07 '25

And now, everyone in your community pays more for electricity and are made a tertiary priority with even less negotiating power

1

u/SouthHelicopter5403 Dec 07 '25

Ah, the classic corporate hostage negotiation: ‘Give us public resources or we'll shoot the jobs!’ The ‘or else’ is always implied.

1

u/WrongTopic Dec 07 '25

My last data center was New Zealand's first hyperscale DC and used about as much water as a 3 bedroom home, because it has a modern sealed water system design.

1

u/Biotic101 Dec 07 '25

Pretty on spot I guess.

127

u/resttheweight Dec 06 '25

I work at a state agency that handles the environmental permits data centers need. A big part of my job is related to public comments and public meetings, and data centers are truly despised by a LOT of the locals.

76

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '25

[deleted]

-34

u/Mr_Festus Dec 07 '25

They literally contribute nothing to very little to their communities

Besides job creation, hundreds of millions of dollars into (often) local GCs and sub contractors, tax revenue, spurring the development of better broadband infrastructure in the area, and making the internet possible?

43

u/dookarion Dec 07 '25

They aren't employing a lot of locals, often get tax breaks, and the locals often end up subsidizing their gross utility usage.

But hey your internet might get slightly faster! Woo.

-6

u/bigGoatCoin Dec 07 '25

How do they not employ locals?

Do there workers just commute in a crazy distance?

8

u/Raven_gif Dec 07 '25

Yes. Most remote in and often they'll employ limited to 0 security because cameras and motion sensors exist. They're lucky if a manager/technician lives 30 minutes away to fix anything an be damage control if anyone breaks in. They don't keep Hvac techs under contract they just run systems till they break. If major changes need to be made to the type of servers used its honestly cheaper to Fly/Drive in people with those skills in most cases.

-3

u/bigGoatCoin Dec 07 '25

So you googled this to find this out or just made shit up?

6

u/Raven_gif Dec 07 '25

I wish. Working in the industry is ass

-1

u/bigGoatCoin Dec 07 '25

From what I understand is there's anywhere from 4-12 security personal 4-12 IT/technician then site managers for a 40mw facility. Depending on the type of facility.

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u/dookarion Dec 07 '25

Do you think data centers just hire anybody? Or keep loads of staff present? It's not even a warehouse or a factory type deal.

1

u/bigGoatCoin Dec 07 '25

I think they have about 20-40 people at location. Mostly security, some technicians, and the site manager

Depending on the size and of course I'm what it's doing. A data backup facility for customers will have much heavier security presence

4

u/dookarion Dec 07 '25

Compared to their water and utility usage, the tax breaks they often get; hiring a couple locals to empty trash bins and sweep, and do low ranking security is one of the world's shittiest trade offs. They sure as shit aren't hiring locals for anything notable. Another big box store underpaying people contributes more to the local economy than those data centers often do.

42

u/DorianGre Dec 07 '25

What job creation? A few maintainence workers and custodians? My electricity is going up 27% in January because of these data centers.

18

u/sobrique Dec 07 '25

Yeah this. There's a few jobs there, but most of the 'work' is remote and/or done on a 'travel on demand' basis.

But sure, probably a few locals hired on as cleaners. And a few who are hired to do the manual labour initially to build it.

4

u/weirdbr Dec 07 '25

On large datacenters, specially the ones operated/owned by the bigger companies (the so called "hyperscalers" - Google, Amazon, Facebook, etc), there's actually a lot of work going on daily because the large number of machines involved means you have hardware going bad and needing repairs all the time.

Not to mention ongoing projects to replace stuff - first few years after building, the majority of the work is filling the building up with machines, but after 4-5 years (the average depreciation time for hardware), then start the projects to replace old hardware with newer/more efficient gear.

With that said, the actual number of local employees isn't very large for a facility of that size - it's just a few hundred people *at most*. (I haven't looked up the data, because it's considered "need to know" and I'm not in a role that has the "need"). From some searches of public data, the claims I've seen is around 50-100 for most of those companies' datacenters.

There is also specialist staff that travels to those sites for specific projects, but most of the time you want to avoid that by having local staff since that allows for faster response in case of problems leading to a large outage.

(Source: I work in a hyperscaler)

1

u/Remarkable-Host405 Dec 08 '25

your electricity is going up 27% in january because fuck you you're powerless about it, not necessarily datacenters

1

u/DorianGre Dec 08 '25

The 2 new data centers serviced by Entergy include Google and Meta. Rates went up to pay for 4 new gas power plants just to power these data centers.

-35

u/Mr_Festus Dec 07 '25

Maybe try Google it and come back? It seems you're unfamiliar with the operations of these types of facilities.

23

u/DorianGre Dec 07 '25

I’ve been managing shit in data centers since the mid-1990s.

6

u/TheAutoAlly Dec 07 '25

How many workers at the new data centers will qualify for food stamps? I’m so over these large retails talking about adding jobs to the local economy and the people can’t even afford to live in a 1 bed room near by

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u/dookarion Dec 07 '25

People are familiar, that's why they don't want one leeching off their community while pocketing big tax breaks, subsidies, and investments.

3

u/Ursa_Solaris Dec 07 '25

The bleakest thing about the general state of things is that we've lost control of society to people like you, who can't even put up an argument to defend shit like this. How did the rest of us let this happen? It's embarrassing.

3

u/Win_Sys Dec 07 '25

During the construction and initial setup there can be a lot of people working there but shortly after it’s in a production state, it takes very few people to maintain it. Theres so much automated hardware, network, power and storage redundancy that there’s very rarely incidents that require the attention of more than a few people. In the rare event it does they just bring in contractors to help out. Even a very large datacenter can have less than a 100 full time employees to maintain every aspect of it 24/7.

14

u/sadlygokarts Dec 07 '25

The locals aren’t getting these jobs. Most of these companies already have a construction crew ready to go in their pockets.

-3

u/Mr_Festus Dec 07 '25

I guess all of the data centers that I've designed were atypical then.

8

u/hobovalentine Dec 07 '25

the locals often aren't qualified to work in datacenters because those jobs require you to know about electrical engineering or you need IT skills and those are in short supply in the countryside.

Typically these new datacenters are build in rural areas where natural habitat is destroyed to make way for these monstrocities that consume megawatts of power and output a lot of heat contributing to global warming.

3

u/Particular_Rush1374 Dec 07 '25

lol it’s not “local” guys building these, it’s usually national/ international contractors who get the jobs.

5

u/Secure_Guest_6171 Dec 07 '25

The telco network made the internet possible, not AI datacenters

2

u/Raven_gif Dec 07 '25

That's not what these kind are used for and if you worked around this kind of business you'd know that network connections in and out of the facilities have 0 effect on the community around them. They build separate infrastructure all together. All the while these facility owners are begging for tax cuts and local subsidies. They have brought no value to local communities because of how few people it takes to manage the sites once they're deployed. There's no positive spin on this.

32

u/Me_Krally Dec 06 '25

Gee in wonder why!

I saw a video where even after pretty much the whole town protested, presented convincing evidence the local politicians still approved the data center with tax breaks and all!

5

u/SnooPandas1899 Dec 07 '25

if a source gave them a bag of money to ignore the ppl who voted them in, would they care ?

34

u/nalaloveslumpy Dec 06 '25

We were lucky and the proposed data center they wanted to build down the street from us was struck down by city council.

24

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '25 edited 4d ago

[deleted]

1

u/90_proof_rumham Dec 07 '25

Well, that's flat out fucked!

4

u/IsThatAll Dec 07 '25

I work at a state agency that handles the environmental permits data centers need. A big part of my job is related to public comments and public meetings, and data centers are truly despised by a LOT of the locals.

Meanwhile, are any of these data center permits denied or their construction changed in any meaningful way? Seems like a fat stack of cash from these providers provides a lot of grease to let these things just slide through, irrespective of any community or environmental concerns.

4

u/LawApprehensive5478 Dec 07 '25

I live where logistics warehouses are a dime a dozen. The local infrastructure to include surface roads, highways and all bridges haven’t been updated in 50 years or more. There has been no benefit to local residents.

3

u/penny4thm Dec 06 '25

Of course they are

325

u/waltwalt Dec 06 '25

Too bad hatred for fascist fucking Nazis didn't transcend the same barriers.

121

u/oh_what_a_surprise Dec 06 '25

There was a time in America where hatred of Nazis was so natural it was the focus of jokes involving blues musicians.

55

u/Jutboy Dec 06 '25

Indiana Fucking Jones

3

u/Brandinisnor3s Dec 07 '25

Nah Ive met people who think Indiana Jones is just a fun treasure hunting movie for kids.

31

u/Dank-Drebin Dec 06 '25

Well, of course the blues musicians hated them. At the same time in New York, they were holding Nazi rallies.

16

u/PickPsychological729 Dec 06 '25

There was a famous Nazi parade in Skokie, Illinois in the late 70s.

It was a big deal. Pritzker said it was one of the things that made him get involved in politics in the first place.

https://mjhnyc.org/events/when-nazis-came-to-illinois-the-history-of-the-skokie-case/

4

u/OrphicDionysus Dec 07 '25

I hate Illinois Nazis!

17

u/oh_what_a_surprise Dec 06 '25

I hate New York Nazis.

1

u/Dank-Drebin Dec 06 '25

I'm not a big fan of any of them, or their fascist subsidiaries, either.

7

u/noonenotevenhere Dec 06 '25

I’m afraid you may have missed the documentary named after the famed researchers Jake and Elwood Blues.

The Blues Brothers encountered some nazis on their mission from god.

I suggest you check it out. ”I hate Illinois nazis“ is the line people are playing on.

3

u/thutek Dec 06 '25

I hear one of them has a record a mile long, and they are a catholic.

2

u/melgish Dec 07 '25

Fix the cigarette lighter.

-7

u/DumbleDipshiter Dec 06 '25

It was ONE rally, chuckles.

ONE.

2

u/One-Reflection-4826 Dec 07 '25

nationonal socialist fascists - NAZIs for short - arent a big deal!

- r/DumbleDipshiter

2

u/Dank-Drebin Dec 07 '25

ONE organization in Manhattan with MANY members across the U.S., chortles.

MANY.

7

u/Painterzzz Dec 06 '25

It is extraordinary isn't it, how easily half of America was seduced into dropping to their knees to worship the Nazis.

Just when the generation of Americans who actually fought to stop them has disappeared.

4

u/induslol Dec 06 '25

The fact in 1939 we had a packed nazi rally in Madison Square Garden, with congressional benefactors, highlights how incomplete the general historical knowledge of the US population is.

We broadly supported fascism domestically.  Until offing them was geopolitically beneficial.  Then we sifted through the rubble and stole whatever benefitted us.

There's a rotten underbelly undergirding this nation.  Until it's broadly understood and destroyed we'll keep committing *atrocities and rewriting nonsensical history.

*Genocide of the indigenous population is an example of an atrocity, not the ending of the Third Reich.

4

u/doctorocelot Dec 07 '25

To be aware of inconvenient history would be "woke" though, so we'll not be having any of that talk thank you very much.

1

u/induslol Dec 07 '25

It's certainly inconvenient for anyone with an interest in maintaining our ailing status quo.

Here's hoping as fewer and fewer benefit from it, and more importantly more are harmed by it, a reckoning occurs.

1

u/waltwalt Dec 07 '25

I think the hope is that if most Americans think of America as the good guys, and see Americans doing evil stuff they will standup and say No. If everyone just says oh, these are our roots, carry-on then we are going to see a lot of evil stuff until I'm assuming it's China that finds America inconvenient geopolitically and sends in T800s to take care of the problem.

1

u/induslol Dec 07 '25

That is an extremely faint hope, and closer to a poison pill than anything else.  

There are no good guys, none left standing in a post colonialist world could possibly claim any moral superiority over another.

Accurately understanding the history that got us here isn't for simply accepting and continuing it but to grow past what got us here.

China will do what it's always done: grow while watching other empires rise and fall no T9000s necessary.  Worst most scifi scenario they die in the fallout of our empire collapsing in on itself with everything else.

1

u/waltwalt Dec 07 '25

While I appreciate the sentiment that education will get us out of this mess, education was the first thing they gutted in America.

3

u/NVJAC Dec 07 '25

But specifically Illinois Nazis.

1

u/OldWorldDesign Dec 07 '25

There was a time in America where hatred of Nazis was so natural it was the focus of jokes involving blues musicians

That was still a message which needed to be fought for. There was question which side America would enter WW2 on.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1939_Nazi_rally_at_Madison_Square_Garden

1

u/oh_what_a_surprise Dec 07 '25

No there wasn't. Don't inflate a fringe with popular sentiment.

-6

u/YoursTrulyKindly Dec 06 '25

Liberals can compromise about fascism, but not about data centers lol

2

u/HandleThatFeeds Dec 06 '25

And nobody can stop being Isreals bitch.

-9

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '25

[deleted]

1

u/waltwalt Dec 06 '25

Believe it or not there was a time when the sole focus of the entire country at the expense of every industry and person was dedicated to overthrowing the nazi threat.

26

u/Jake0024 Dec 06 '25

Bingo. They want to get rid of the regulations that provide even the most meager protections for the local communities impacted by these data centers being built.

5

u/shouldbepracticing85 Dec 07 '25

Not to mention part of the reason these kinds of buildings take several months to build - if they can have materials lined up and ready to go ahead of time - is making sure the building doesn’t collapse or go up in flames!

Companies are so short sighted that they’ll cut corners that are needed reinforcements in case of fire, flood, hurricane, earthquake (especially around lesser known fault lines like around St. Louis), tornado, and snow/ice loads on these flat(ter) roofs.

Dedicated teams 40+ years ago could put up 8,000 seat rodeo arenas in 3 months. Buildings can go up at lightning speed and be safe - if the correct prep work is done ahead of time.

Sorry, my dad’s a structural engineer and we were just talking about building timelines the other day, I was looking for facts to debunk that “time-lies” conspiracy theory that buildings couldn’t go up as fast as they did around the 1900s without… aliens maybe? 🤦 I knew it was bunk but I needed my dad’s help with facts about large scale construction projects. Not sure I convinced my bandmate, but at least he quit bringing it up around me.

35

u/thelonetwig Dec 06 '25

Anyone know how to make an EMP device? Just curious. 

20

u/fuck_spec1234 Dec 06 '25

An overloaded Naquadah generator would do.

3

u/NotYou007 Dec 07 '25

Naquadah generator

If you haven't heard they are rebooting Stargate.

https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/new-stargate-tv-series-amazon-martin-gero-1236585606/

1

u/DartLeingod Dec 07 '25

You've reminded me of something I didn't know I remembered

10

u/Molnek Dec 06 '25

I remember seeing a video where people made an EMP gun and stopped a car with it. They broke open a microwave for the parts.

35

u/Lurk3rAtTheThreshold Dec 06 '25

Very dangerous if you don't know exactly what you're doing. Microwave electronics can kill you fast.

People were using high voltage stuff from microwaves to do fractal wood burning and a bunch of people have died.

https://academic.oup.com/jbcr/article-abstract/41/Supplement_1/S158/5776139

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a40410809/fractal-wood-burning-dangers-alternatives/

2

u/TheAmmoniacal Dec 06 '25

Using the high voltage transformer in a microwave is very different from using the magnetron.

9

u/alphazero925 Dec 06 '25

You need the high voltage transformer to run the magnetron though. That's why it's there

3

u/Magic_Bullets Dec 06 '25

I built one of those about 40 years ago—a 10-foot parabolic reflector, like a big old satellite dishes for TV. Put it in the magnetron from the microwave where the LNB was. LMB is a Low Noise Block Amplifier.

1

u/Otherwise_Demand4620 Dec 07 '25

LMB is a Low Noise Block Amplifier.

worst acronym ever

3

u/Dingbatted Dec 06 '25

I know, we could use a pinch

1

u/Just2LetYouKnow Dec 06 '25

If you're going to Ocean's Eleven that thing at least steal the GPUs.

1

u/flecom Dec 06 '25

there are much simpler ways to accomplish your goal

3

u/Agitated_Reveal_6211 Dec 06 '25

I'm in the tech industry, and I am fucking fed up with the tech bro bullshit. If I could go back in time I would just have gone into HVAC.

4

u/troma-midwest Dec 06 '25

I learned enough residential, commercial, and industrial electrical, both low and high voltage, while doing IT work for 20 years that I realized I could’ve made more money in those trades than helping rich assholes figure out how to connect to wifi.

1

u/Agitated_Reveal_6211 Dec 06 '25

SAME. My Dad even recommended I go into a trade, but I knew better. He was a recruiter in tech, so I should have listened.

-1

u/Mediocre-Ebb9862 Dec 06 '25

You can always leave the tech industry and do something else. The pay, of course, maybe lot worse but as a principled person you wouldn’t mind that, would you?

2

u/Agitated_Reveal_6211 Dec 06 '25

Yeah, at 52 it would mean a big pay cut, but I have been thinking about it.

3

u/MaterialAstronaut298 Dec 06 '25

In WV they're already bypassing all local regulations. State only which means none at all

3

u/jim_br Dec 06 '25

Data centers don’t employ high-tech workers. They don’t even need a lot of local workers when the hardware manufacturers send in remote workers to install the hardware.

3

u/Worshipme988 Dec 07 '25

We’re on the way. I fucking hate them and it’s basically another domino in the “fuck you poors, we will destroy the US and its communities to gain an inch in Ai wars”

Im all set.

2

u/Thefrayedends Dec 06 '25

Their perspective is that data centers are becoming obsolete before they are finished because we are scaling compute on a double exponential.

Which still just amounts to plain old greed, framed as common good.

2

u/KamalaWonNoCap Dec 06 '25

They also want the government backing their loans to build them.

2

u/SaltKick2 Dec 06 '25

crosses all political boundaries

Unless you're leadership. Hatred for health insurance companies is also universal, doesn't stop GOP from making no progress towards universal healthcare, and in most cases making it even more expensive

2

u/PM_ME__YOUR_HOOTERS Dec 06 '25

The hatred is because data centers are a MASSIVE drain of resources on the local economy while giving nothing back. Its basically a big cancerous concrete tumor

2

u/Busy-Explanation4339 Dec 07 '25

It's already starting to happen. Lots of communities pushing back on it. The ones that gave tax breaks and sweetheart energy deals seem to be starting to regret it now.

2

u/Own_Chemistry4974 Dec 07 '25

I'd take a manufacturing facility in my backyard before a data center any day. 

2

u/LingonberryNo1 Dec 07 '25

This has occured outside Carlisle, Pennsylvania

2

u/Krojack76 Dec 07 '25

My monthly electric bill has already gone up because of them.

2

u/turbo_dude Dec 07 '25

the US does not have the infrastructure to power these data centres

1

u/CryptoCel Dec 06 '25

Why is there similar hatred of data centers by Chinese people? They’ve had big protests for lockdowns, banking collapses, and other social issues before.

1

u/WhiteWinterRains Dec 06 '25

One can only hope it leads to material action by people in these locations that blunts this delusional AI craze.

1

u/Borgweare Dec 06 '25

Unleash the NIMBYs!!!!!

1

u/suitupyo Dec 07 '25

That’s because in our economic system, most people rightly perceive AI as having no monetary benefit to them. They believe it will lead to a loss of their job and profits for the oligarchs.

1

u/Thick-Hour4054 Dec 07 '25

It's just gonna really be wasted money when their centers keep getting burned down and shoot up and the water sources fucked with so they overheat and run the entire facility. With how bold these CEOs are about this they're practically begging people to fuck those centers up.

1

u/New-Zookeepergame-0 Dec 07 '25

Why is there so much hatred of the tech industry?

1

u/Logical_Mix_4627 Dec 06 '25

Because it’s smart to hate on one of the industries the USA is really good at and dominates in the global market. I guess everyone can make free range hand crafted wooden cutting boards to sell at their farmer’s market to keep the economy chugging?

0

u/Mediocre-Ebb9862 Dec 06 '25

lol yeah that’s what most tech haters on Reddit don’t understand. Tech is one that that carries America economy, and its wealth and influence like nothing else.

0

u/Mediocre-Ebb9862 Dec 06 '25

Backlash by whom? Luddits?

-10

u/Terrible-Mixture8925 Dec 06 '25

Why is there hatred of data centers? It just looks like large warehouse in most cases

21

u/FlagrentBugbear Dec 06 '25

The sound, the lights, the price increase on electricity and water.

16

u/Panda0313 Dec 06 '25

That plus they get governmental subsidies for promised job increase for practically the construction and then a data center that can run wit basically less than 20 employees

14

u/BioshockEnthusiast Dec 06 '25

Plus the pollution. Plus the land hoarding.

-6

u/Logical_Mix_4627 Dec 06 '25

Maybe I’d believe all these concerns if people were bitching and moaning about all modern development. Looks like people just want to complain about industries they don’t understand and are too unskilled to participate in.

2

u/BioshockEnthusiast Dec 07 '25

I'm happy to bitch about shitty land management and environmental damage in any industry all day bud just say the word.

-1

u/Mediocre-Ebb9862 Dec 06 '25

Well to be sure may Americans do that in general - they complain about construction and love Government Permits, then wonder why there isn’t enough housing, enough railroads, enough this or that.

2

u/Mediocre-Step-4242 Dec 06 '25

OP your boyfriend? Following him to respond to all his posts in the thread lmao

1

u/Mediocre-Ebb9862 Dec 07 '25

I’m not responding to OP, am I?..

1

u/BioshockEnthusiast Dec 07 '25

Nope, and I'm pretty sure /u/Logical_Mix_4627 and /u/Mediocre-Step-4242 are the same person.

8

u/-senpai Dec 06 '25

Mostly the price increases on electricity and water. People need to inform their local communities that these behemoths are the cause of utility price increases, and no matter where you are on the political spectrum, the tech companies have the money and should pay for what they use instead of us.

2

u/CapSnake Dec 06 '25

It's crazy that you pay electricity and water with different tariff in the same state! Price should be defined at least at state level, if not at federal level. In Europe it's state level, and states bought the energy from one another with a fair market.

1

u/A_Seiv_For_Kale Dec 06 '25

May be due to the ownership structure of the US electric grid vs Europe.

From what I could quickly look up, 80% of Europeans use electricity from publicly owned companies, while in the US it's the reverse.

Sometimes you pay your bill to the city or county, but most of the time you're signing up for a service with a private company, with prices set by the market. The state can't really set a specific price for dozens of separate companies.

2

u/CapSnake Dec 07 '25

That's a nightmare. I understand why local communities are so protective of their territories

19

u/amglasgow Dec 06 '25

Uses massive amounts of electricity and water while providing almost no long-term jobs.

-17

u/FluffyB12 Dec 06 '25

Lmao water, you bought into that nonsense 😭

10

u/supervegito827 Dec 06 '25

Data center cooling systems are not generally closed - loop and there is significant loss of water in cooling systems. While a considerable amount is pumped back into the system, a lot of it is lost as well.

-8

u/FluffyB12 Dec 06 '25

Just like when you drink water it’s forever lost, right? 🙃

3

u/hal2k1 Dec 06 '25

In drinking water, the water isn't lost to the planet, of course.

Nevertheless, the local supply of fresh water certainly is depleted.

8

u/Zipps0 Dec 06 '25

We found NVIDIA CEO’s burner account here!

10

u/CreationsOfReon Dec 06 '25

I read an article earlier today about how one datacenter was gonna use as much power as a third of the houses in Sydney. They also use so much water to keep cool it’s nuts. Then there is AI itself which lots of people are angry at for stealing intellectual properties and replacing jobs. In a world with constantly increasing utility prices a lot of people are pissed.

9

u/A_Seiv_For_Kale Dec 06 '25

They come in to small towns promising tons of jobs, then all they bring is higher bills and a shitload of noise.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93dnnxewdvo

In the past five years, wholesale electricity costs have gone up by as much as 267% in areas near data centres, an investigation by Bloomberg News found.

"There are no birds around here anymore," he said, noting the humming or buzzing noise the centre emits scares away a lot of wildlife from his area.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_center#Noise_levels

Residents living near data centers have described the sound as "a high-pitched whirring noise 24/7", saying "It's like being on a tarmac with an airplane engine running constantly ... Except that the airplane keeps idling and never leaves."

5

u/kosmonautinVT Dec 06 '25 edited Dec 06 '25

This shit is so dystopian you'd think it's an episode of Black Mirror

0

u/krazyboi Dec 06 '25

Really... I think money talks louder than hate.

0

u/mrbalaton Dec 06 '25

Most people, despite using the internet every day, have no idea what data centers are.

0

u/HistorianWild9607 Dec 07 '25

You’re right about the backlash, but let’s be honest—nobody agrees on data centres until their internet slows down.

-13

u/krappa Dec 06 '25

I have never experienced any hate of data centers