Not surprising at all. There is paid for the locals when these things appear, but they don’t get anything back for that paid. Even if they’re computer literate and using ai, there’s no notice that this came from their local centre. Nor is there anything that’s unique to a particular location.
People get annoyed at being inconvenienced so that others, elsewhere can make money.
States may dangle the tax carrots, but localities could be the ones paying for road and utility improvements. The costs for that could be much less than projected gains in tax revenue, but that's a gamble. Not to mention being left with abandoned buildings. We didn't even need to have a bubble pop to see abandoned facilities. If one company goes out of business (normal in a healthy economy), there's little we can (and politicians are willing to) do to make sure defunct companies clean up any messes.
From the few cases I have looked at, tax revenues for the towns is in the $30-40M/yr range.
I cannot fathom what kind of road improvements a datacenter would need that wouldn't be easily offset. Or what demolition costs for a square box would be that would eclipse that, nevermind the value of the underlying land.
Here in Michigan there are large industrial facilities that most locals have no idea what is done inside. There's noise, electric usage, trucks coming in and out, but most people think it's ok. Data centers are seen differently.
The tech industry has spent that last few decades fucking with people: addictive infinite scrolling sites, dark patterns, etc.
Now the same assholes are saying their machines will eradicate the job market. And also will make their neighborhood noisy and their water and electric bills high.
The industry has earned this pushback several times over.
(I am generalizing but you get the idea from a layperson's perspective)
It’s different because those places typically provide jobs for the people in the surrounding area. Data centers don’t employ enough people to provide an economic benefit for the people that live near them.
If you live in the area, it's easy to say that. There's no protests in the local parks. There's no shouting matches at city council meetings.
I say this as a person living in a town where they are building a bunch of data centers, and nobody cares about the existing industrial areas which include factories and heavy industry. No protests, no shouting matches at city council meetings. None of that. Granted, those were built a long time ago.
People get annoyed at being inconvenienced so that others, elsewhere can make money.