A growing theory among Silicon Valley millionaires and tech investors suggests that China is secretly funding local opposition to data center construction across the United States, despite a lack of direct evidence. The claim has gained traction among wealthy figures invested in artificial intelligence, including Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who spoke at an event titled "Harnessing American Power" last month.
Burgum expressed dismay at what he called a new wave of local opposition, asserting that "it's not organic and local, some of this is foreign-sourced dark money."
On the popular podcast All-In, hosted by a group of tech multimillionaires, fund manager Gavin Baker echoed the sentiment, stating, "It is starting to feel or seem like there might be a CCP-funded campaign." The theory has spread rapidly among the elite, even as independent researchers find little evidence of a coordinated Chinese effort.
OpenAI recently reported that it banned a cluster of likely Chinese accounts that used ChatGPT to generate anti-data center content this past winter. The accounts were probably run by a private Chinese technology firm working for "provincial-level government clients" in China, according to OpenAI.
The operators posed as Americans on social media, posting AI-generated comments and images highlighting energy demand and rising electricity costs. However, Ben Nimmo, who leads threat investigations at OpenAI, told reporters, "This was not a case of an influence operation creating a debate.
The debate existed already. This was an influence operation from China trying to interfere in it.
We didn't see any signs that they succeeded."
The allegations come amid a rising wave of anti-data center sentiment. A recent Gallup poll found that 71% of Americans somewhat or strongly opposed construction of data centers in their communities.
Despite this public opposition, the theory appears to be gaining traction in Washington. Congressman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, called for a briefing on whether the U.S.
government sees evidence for Chinese influence in the data center debate.
One prominent advocate of the theory is Canadian multimillionaire and Shark Tank star Kevin O'Leary, who is an investor in a giant data center in Utah called Stratos. The project, originally planned to be roughly twice the size of Manhattan, faced local opposition after a planning council approved it in early May.
O'Leary claimed that a nonprofit called Alliance for a Better Utah and a consultancy known as Elevate Strategies were operating on behalf of the Chinese government against the project. He named several current and former employees, including Gabi Finlayson, a senior partner at Elevate Strategies.
Finlayson told NPR she had no idea how she or Elevate ended up on O'Leary's list. "I think we have been as confused as anybody," she said.
She noted that Elevate, like several progressive groups, had posted about the data center on social media but is not playing a central role in efforts to stop construction. "We are certainly not a Chinese cell.
Nobody pays us to make any content, let alone any foreign government," she said.
Employees at Alliance for a Better Utah were equally perplexed. Elizabeth Hutchings, the organization's communications director, said, "I grew up watching Shark Tank with my dad occasionally, and I was like why is this guy talking about us?" O'Leary named people who didn't even work there anymore, and claimed "there was evidence that millions of dollars were being funneled from the Chinese Communist Party." NPR checked the group's tax documents and found they posted revenue of around $200,000 in 2024, consistent with their annual revenue for the past decade.
The group even made a fundraising video mocking the idea they were funded by China, displaying a hammer and sickle while asking for donations from local Utahns.
Independent researchers say they have found little evidence of a coordinated Chinese effort. Darren Linvill, co-lead of the Media Forensics Hub at Clemson University, which tracks foreign influence campaigns online, stated, "We haven't found much." He noted that China, like many countries, controls armies of social media bots, but they are not talking much about this topic.
Chinese state media appears more intent on promoting Chinese data centers. Linvill said he can't rule out that the Chinese are quietly paying influencers, but pointed out there's no need.
"I think in this case, the people talking about data centers are real people with real passions and real perspectives and real opinions."
In Utah, local opposition appears to have forced Kevin O'Leary to scale back his plans. After the president of the Utah Senate raised concerns, O'Leary agreed to shrink his data center project to a quarter of its original size.