Kevin O'Leary claims Chinese propaganda is to blame for anti-datacenter backlash, 'hundreds of millions of dollars' being spent to kill US dominance in AI — industry proponents and Trump administration reinforce claims of foreign interference

Tech Industry Artificial Intelligence Kevin O'Leary claims Chinese propaganda is to blame for anti-datacenter backlash, 'hundreds of millions of dollars' being spent to kill US dominance in AI — industry proponents and Trump administration reinforce claims of foreign interference News By Bruno Ferreira published 30 May 2026 Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works . (Image credit: Getty Images) Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 3 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter To say that data centers are becoming unpopular would be the understatement of the decade. Cities, states, and countries are racing to impose strong restrictions on new buildouts, when they're not banning them altogether. Predictably, Utah residents are up in arms about Shark Tank billionaire investor Kevin O'Leary's new $100-billion, 40,000-acre data center . There's a twist, though: O'Leary, the Trump administration, and pro-industry groups claim the opposition is driven by Chinese propaganda, as detailed in an exposé at The Washington Post . Go deeper with TH Premium: AI and data centers (Image credit: Microsoft) Photonics and high-speed data movement is the next big AI bottleneck The data center cooling state of play Massive AI data center buildouts are squeezing energy supplies Ultra Ethernet: The data center interconnection of tomorrow O'Leary, or "Mr. Wonderful," as he's known to friends, made this statement for the first time in a May 10 interview with Fox News, further expanding it across subsequent TV interviews and X posts. He added claims that "hundreds of millions of dollars" coming in from China make up the effort, often funneled through other nations to reach paid protesters, which, in the case of Utah, were allegedly 90% bussed