China Cheers as American Activists Stall the AI Boom — And Washington Is Finally Taking Notice

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A Battle Over America's AI Future

The United States is racing to build the data centers that will power the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI). These facilities are massive, energy-hungry computer warehouses that train and run AI systems.

Local opposition to this construction has grown quickly across the country. Residents worry about electricity prices, water use, and noise. Many of those concerns are genuine.

But according to new research, something else is happening underneath the surface — a coordinated campaign with foreign ties, aimed at slowing down America's AI progress before China falls further behind.

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The Man Behind the Network

At the center of the story is Neville Roy Singham, a U.S.-born entrepreneur who sold his software company Thoughtworks for roughly $785 million in 2017 and has since relocated to Shanghai. Singham has openly identified as a Marxist and previously worked as a consultant for the Chinese telecom giant Huawei.

Over the past decade, Singham has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into a web of American nonprofit organizations and media outlets, including the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), a self-described Marxist-Leninist group. Researchers say this network works closely with China's state propaganda machine, though Singham himself denies wrongdoing.

It is worth remembering that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has a long history of exporting propaganda and suppressing dissent abroad — from silencing critics of its policies in Xinjiang and Hong Kong to its decades-long persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual movement. Analysts say the anti-data-center campaign fits a familiar pattern: using sympathetic Western voices to amplify divisions that serve Beijing's strategic interests.

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$23.6 Billion and Counting

A June 2026 report by the Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI), a nonpartisan research organization, found that PSL-linked activists have run at least 21 campaigns against data center projects across 14 states. The result: ten temporary construction moratoriums, one permanent ban, and four projects that were rejected or withdrawn entirely.

Two of the biggest casualties were a $12 billion AI campus in Wisconsin, backed by investment firm Blackstone, and a $5 billion facility in Maryland. Altogether, BPI estimates that roughly $23.6 billion in AI infrastructure investment has been delayed or blocked.

Crucially, BPI's researchers are careful to note that most opposition to data centers is homegrown and legitimate. Their concern is that a well-funded, foreign-linked network has embedded itself inside that real movement to steer and intensify it.

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Washington Responds

The findings have triggered a serious response in Washington. In late June 2026, U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton of the Southern District of New York opened a grand jury investigation into the financing behind Singham's network, according to Fox News Digital.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has also pressed the White House and the FBI to investigate whether foreign actors are working to obstruct America's data center buildout. Separately, OpenAI has published its own findings identifying Chinese-linked influence operations that used its ChatGPT platform to stir up opposition to AI infrastructure.

The Trump administration has made winning the AI race with China a top priority, arguing that cheap energy and lighter regulation are essential to keeping American AI development ahead of Beijing. Supporters of that approach say the Singham findings show exactly why the stakes are so high.

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What Local Communities Actually Gain

Supporters of data center construction point to concrete financial benefits for the towns that host them. In Richland Parish, Louisiana, a large Meta data center helped generate a surge in local sales tax revenue — enough to fund teacher bonuses of nearly $51,000 each.

In Loudoun County, Virginia, roughly 250 data centers are projected to generate $1.3 billion in tax revenue, close to 40% of the county's entire 2027 budget.

Several states have already begun passing laws requiring data center operators to supply their own electricity and limit water use for cooling — a practical answer to residents' genuine concerns, without shutting down construction altogether.

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Outlook

The debate over AI infrastructure is likely to intensify heading into the 2026 midterm elections, with candidates from both parties now campaigning against data center construction in their districts. Analysts warn that this bipartisan backlash, if it slows the U.S. build-out significantly, would primarily benefit one country: China.

With federal investigators, congressional committees, and AI companies themselves now paying closer attention to the funding behind the protests, more disclosures are expected in the coming months.

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Sources

1. Bitcoin Policy Institute – "Foreign Influence in the Campaign against American AI, Part II: The Singham Ground Game" – https://www.btcpolicy.org/articles/foreign-influence-campaign-against-american-ai-part-ii-singham-ground-game
2. Bitcoin Policy Institute – "Foreign Influence in the Campaign against American AI" – https://www.btcpolicy.org/articles/foreign-influence-in-the-campaign-against-american-ai
3. The Washington Times – "Report: Marxist tycoon is funding a China-backed influence campaign against AI data centers" – https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/jun/30/neville-roy-singham-funding-china-backed-influence-campaign-ai-data/
4. Fox News Digital – "Probe into 'subversive' anti-AI Singham network is 'enormous,' former Treasury advisor says" – https://www.foxnews.com/politics/probe-subversive-anti-ai-singham-network-enormous-former-treasury-advisor-says

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