The rapid expansion of U.S. data centers is facing increasingly organized opposition as residents and lawmakers weigh AI infrastructure's economic and strategic benefits against demands for electricity, water, environmental protections, transparency and rural land. Data Center Watch said 45 proposed facilities valued at $68 billion were blocked or delayed by local resistance between April and June 2026, representing more than half of the large-scale developments it tracked during the quarter. The pace slowed from the first quarter, when about 75 projects worth roughly $130 billion faced disruption. The organization counted 843 active opposition groups across 49 states, with Hawaii the only exception, while about 30 state legislatures introduced or adopted measures covering siting, electricity and water. Opposition is increasingly forming before developers file permits, and a Tennessee petition collected more than 500,000 signatures on Change.org. Data Center Watch also recorded protests outside the United States for the first time in two years, with campaigns in Europe, Australia and South Africa. Bitcoin miners' already-permitted power sites are emerging as potential locations for AI developers seeking to avoid lengthy grid-connection waits. President Donald Trump has framed resistance as a political problem, telling communities that rejecting data centers would leave them behind and poor, and on September 14 dismissing warnings about artificial intelligence as a hoax. Anthropic plans to identify public hostility toward AI and data centers as a risk factor in its IPO prospectus, according to media reports. The next quarter's figures will help determine whether opposition is easing or fewer projects are reaching the stage at which residents can challenge them.