I suspect this will be a terribly unpopular post but so be it. Sometimes you just have to say what needs to be said.  I’ve been both amazed and disheartened to see the increasing and often irrational opposition to data centers, and some politicians, seeking to secure cheap political points, have been all too quick to jump on the anti-data center bandwagon.

Now don’t misunderstand me, some of the issues that have been raised about data centers, including high energy and water usage, are valid and need to be addressed.  We certainly should demand responsible development.  Data centers should not, to the greatest extent possible, clash with other forms of development, especially residential development. They should be located in areas that have been designated for heavy commercial or industrial development.

But “stop building data centers” is not a serious national strategy.

When I was serving as Virginia’s Chief Jobs Creation Officer during the McDonnell administration, we made data center recruitment a major part of our economic development strategy.  We realized that the U.S. needs data centers to compete with other nations, especially China, in the rapidly growing areas of AI, cloud storage, communications, etc.  Data centers power AI, cloud computing, communications, financial systems, scientific research, and countless everyday services. The United States is the most technologically advanced country in the world. If the U.S. wants to remain a leader in technology, we need to build the infrastructure that makes that leadership possible.

We also recognized that data centers could be a major source of capital investment, job creation, and tax revenue for many localities, especially many rural localities; and that they have been.  According to the Northern Virginia Technology Council’s 2024 report, the total capital investment in Virginia’s data centers is about $203 billion, and new and expanding data centers accounted for 92% of all new investment announced by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership in 2023.

In 2025, data centers supported more than 112,000 jobs in Virginia.  This includes thousands of direct, operational and construction jobs, with each data center supporting an additional 3.5 jobs in the broader Virginia economy, and in 2025, data centers contributed more than $1.5 billion in annual state and local tax revenue.  These revenues help pay for critical public services such as schools, affordable housing, transportation, and workforce development.

The legitimate concerns that have been expressed about data centers deserve serious scrutiny, but so does the bigger picture, and as Newsweek suggests, we should be alert to foreign influence in this debate.  China has a clear strategic interest in slowing America’s technological and AI advantage, and they are actively seeking to create and capitalize on the growing debate over data centers.

The bottom line is America can protect its communities and build the infrastructure needed to lead the next generation of technology. We shouldn’t have to choose between the two.  Data centers may be the political lightning rod of 2025, but much of the opposition is irrational, and it is certainly not in the best long term economic interests of the United States or our people.

BILL BOLLING served as the 39th lieutenant governor for Virginia.