President Donald Trump rejected the claim that China is behind the anti-data center fervor sweeping the nation during a Thursday afternoon event at the White House.
“We had a great meeting with China, and you know they do things to us, and we do things to them. I say it all the time,” Trump told reporters during an event on coal.
“They say, ‘Oh, are you worried about China tapping your phones?’” Trump continued. “I said, ‘Well, they’re worried about the same thing.’ No, we’re very highly sophisticated. We’ve become very highly sophisticated.”
The House Energy and Commerce Committee warned on Thursday that China is behind a campaign to oppose artificial intelligence data centers in the United States.
“Our nation is locked in a race with China to innovate and lead the world in the development of Artificial Intelligence technologies,” House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY) told the New York Post.
Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO), the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has also accused China of funding nonprofit groups to sow discord against AI data centers, as has billionaire Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
Guthrie and other lawmakers pointed to a study from the Bitcoin Policy Institute, which claimed “international actors are working through state media organizations, nonprofit networks, and dark money groups to shape US policy and public opinion on artificial intelligence.” The BPI report said foreign billionaires “have funneled more than $2 billion” into advocacy groups opposing data centers.
FOREIGN INFLUENCE OPERATIONS ARE FUELING THE ANTI-DATA CENTER MOVEMENT
Americans have grown weary of data centers that have driven up energy costs.
A Public First poll showed that U.S. voters, at 26%, had the lowest support for data centers among 15 large nations.