In Silicon Valley, AI data center boom meets local resistance

In Silicon Valley’s biggest city, residents and environmental groups are organizing against a wave of proposed data center projects that officials have courted in a bid to position the city as a hub for AI infrastructure.

The clash highlights a challenge confronting policymakers nationwide: how to support an industry viewed by government and business leaders as critical to economic competitiveness while responding to growing public concerns about the electricity, water and pollution impacts of the infrastructure required to power it.