Trump, tech leaders suggest China is behind data-center opposition

OpenAI says it banned China-linked accounts over data-center claims

President Trump warned this past week that communities opposing data centers would “end up being backwards and poor,” and that “China could not be happier with this anti Data Center movement.” A Wall Street Journal column describes the remarks as part of a stepped-up public campaign by the administration and technology leaders to build support for AI infrastructure, following what the column calls “Hot Luddite Summer” and weeks of growing opposition over the physical expansion of the technology.

According to the column, tech leaders have for weeks suggested that foreign powers — maybe even socialists — are behind the U.S. populist movement against artificial intelligence, with China as the particular focus. The campaign fits a broader narrative pushed by President Trump, in the run-up to the midterm elections, that the Democratic Party has been taken over by left-wing extremists, the column says. The anti-data-center opposition is unusually bipartisan, according to polling.

The stakes are economic as well as political. The column writes that key to the lofty valuations being assigned to the likes of Anthropic and OpenAI is the assumption of massive growth — growth that can only occur if more data centers are opened to build and fuel AI’s expanse. Trump appears to be depending on those construction projects, as well as Wall Street exuberance for AI, to bolster his case for the strength of an economy that many see as unaffordable.

This past week, the Justice Department sided with OpenAI in its legal battle with the New York Times over a copyright dispute. “Rules of law that make it significantly more difficult to develop a robust AI industry in the United States therefore threaten national security and give a competitive advantage to foreign adversaries who are not so encumbered,” the department told a federal judge Tuesday. The filing did not specifically mention China. The column notes the threat of China’s potential advances in AI has been used to fight off state regulations and cited by Trump in support of his light-touch approach to the industry, even as big-name Republican governors have called for slowing things down.

To counter concerns about electricity prices and water consumption, the pro-AI campaign in recent days has pushed back with arguments apparently aimed at appealing to rural America. On Tuesday, OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman suggested in a podcast that new data centers were more efficient than almond farming. The next day, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick pointed to how much water cattle consume; in a CNBC interview, he laughed off the water issue, calling it “propaganda by our adversaries.”

Some in the pro-AI camp have blamed the Chinese Communist Party’s use of social media for stoking the concerns, the column says. Trae Stephens, a venture capitalist and co-founder of Anduril, recently posted on X: “It’s almost like not banning TikTok has had real world consequences as the U.S. population continues being poisoned by CCP propaganda.”

In June, OpenAI said it had banned two clusters of ChatGPT accounts likely originating from China, saying they were being used to support an “apparent covert influence operation,” including creating social-media content claiming data centers were increasing electricity prices. Albert Zhang, part of OpenAI’s team identifying misuse, later clarified during a company event that OpenAI was not trying to claim all data-center debates originated from foreign actors, noting that some of the suspected posts had very few views — “like three views.”

“It was important for us to disclose this particular operation because it says a lot about the intent of” China “actors and maybe an indication of other operations that may be running across the U.S.,” Zhang said. In a statement Friday, OpenAI said people have real concerns and “it’s our responsibility to earn their trust.”

Late last month, Elon Musk’s social-media network X published its own findings after investigating suspected Chinese influence operations, including images similar to what OpenAI had highlighted. Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R., Wyo.) posted on X: “It’s not surprising that the CCP is working overtime to derail America’s lead in AI. That kind of desperation is a clear sign they are nervous.”

Not all observers are convinced. Andy Masley, a high-profile AI researcher who has fought to debunk concerns about data-center water usage, questioned the suggestion that the CCP was behind the campaign. “This looks much more like a general bot farm trying to get attention,” he posted on X.

The column points to the political backdrop in states where opposition runs strong. An EPIC-MRA poll conducted this summer found 51% of Michigan voters unfavorable to socialism and 22% favorable; a separate EPIC-MRA survey found 62% of Michigan voters opposed development of data centers.

The administration’s backing of the projects carries political risk, the column says. Trump could alienate core supporters ahead of what’s expected to be a close election with Republican control of Congress in play. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the former congresswoman who has had a public falling out with the president, posted on social media: “Good luck winning the midterms now that MAGA means mass data centers, flock cameras and surveillance state.” For the tech companies, the column says, the embrace of what it calls a “new Red Scare” risks further inflaming grassroots opponents who may not like being labeled “socialist dupes.” The column poses the question hanging over November’s elections: “Which do voters fear more, China or AI data centers?”