The theory taking the rich by storm: China funds data center haters

Protesters hold signs in front the of the Utah State Capitol building to oppose the construction of the Stratos data center in Box Elder County on May 23, 2026 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Tech millionaires claim China is behind a wave of local opposition to U.S. data centers, while providing little direct evidence. Natalie Behring/Getty Images North America hide caption

Speaking at an event titled "Harnessing American Power" last month, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum expressed dismay at what he saw as a new wave of local opposition to data centers in America.

"It's not organic and local, some of this is foreign-sourced dark money," he told the crowd .

He isn't alone in his suspicions. Over on the podcast All-In , which is hosted by a group of tech multimillionaires who call each other "besties," there was also talk of foreign influence, specifically from China.

"It is starting to feel or seem like there might be a CCP-funded campaign," fund manager Gavin Baker told the hosts.

The theory that China is paying local activists in America to oppose data centers is catching on like wildfire among the Silicon Valley elite, despite a lack of evidence. Wealthy investors are naming names and pointing fingers, even if they can't directly link their projects' opponents to China.

That's not to say that Chinese influence is completely absent from the U.S. conversation around AI infrastructure and data centers. On Wednesday OpenAI said 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, OpenAI said. The company said the operators posed as Americans on social media and posted AI-generated comments and images highlighting energy demand and rising electricity costs.

But OpenAI also said the impact of the influence campaign appeared limited and its social media posts didn't get much traction. "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," said Ben Nimmo, who leads threat investigations at OpenAI, on a call with reporters.