Build American AI, an advocacy outfit supported by wealthy AI industry figures, announced Monday a multimillion‑dollar advertising push to counter growing resistance to data center construction. The group said the budget is in the millions but offered no further spending details, and framed data centers as critical to local economies and national competitiveness. "The stakes are too high to allow the loudest and most extreme voices to dictate America's future," the group said. "Driving responsible investment away will cost Americans good-paying jobs, weaken communities and undermine America's ability to lead."
The campaign's financial support comes from Leading the Future, a pro‑AI super PAC bankrolled by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, two venture capitalists, along with OpenAI President Greg Brockman. Any slowdown in building would ripple through U.S. tech firms planning to invest more than $700 billion in AI infrastructure this year, along with the Wall Street investors behind them.
The initial ad placements will be in Kansas, Ohio, and Wisconsin - states where disputes over data centers have seeped into statewide elections, according to Monday's announcement. The National Republican Senatorial Committee recently warned major AI companies that supporting data centers is becoming politically toxic.
Concerns over electricity costs, outages, and water consumption have eroded public support for nearby AI data centers. In August, 61% of U.S. adults said they opposed constructing new data centers in their area - 12 percentage points higher than in February-March polling - according to the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
President Donald Trump, who has made AI development central to his economic agenda, defended the build‑out in a Monday social media post. "If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign."
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Grassroots opposition has become increasingly visible. On July 30 in Michigan, a protest sign reading "Real Barns Not Bribes No Data Centers" appeared near the construction site of "The Barn" data center, a Related Digital project for Oracle and OpenAI, in a scene photographed by Sarah Rice for Bloomberg. Policy hurdles are mounting as well: New York put a moratorium in place on hyperscale data centers, Texas effectively paused new development, and additional states and cities are imposing limits.
The consequences are significant. Data Center Watch tallies at least 75 projects - worth roughly $130 billion in total - that local opposition blocked or slowed in the first three months of 2026. With enormous capital plans in play this year, the fresh ad campaign aims to shift opinion in key battlegrounds where political outcomes and tech investment timelines increasingly intersect.
