Trump backs 'tremendously important' AI data centers over oil in global power shift

President Donald Trump said on Friday that data centers could grow into a larger industry than oil, and argued the United States cannot afford to let China lead on artificial intelligence or cryptocurrency.

He made this declaration today in his midterm election interview with Punchbowl News.

“Whoever wins the AI, just wins”

Stressing the importance of AI infrastructure, Trump bluntly stated that “Whoever wins the AI, just wins.”

He categorized data centers as massive revenue generators for local economies, arguing that state governors should slash taxes to attract them rather than putting up roadblocks. He specifically took issue with Texas for pushing back, noting that lower taxes are the key to winning these investments.

Trump also played down worries about the strain these sites put on the power grid. While he admitted that the buildings “need more electricity than the entire nation uses,” he still insisted that the companies behind them are building their own power plants and would not draw from the public supply.

Where crypto fits into the whole argument

In the same Punchbowl interview, Trump tied the rapid expansion of crypto and Bitcoin directly to geopolitical competition with Beijing, warning that the U.S. must not let China take the lead in digital assets.

“We don’t want to see China take over crypto,” he said, adding that “I don’t want to see China win with AI.”

He pointed out that China currently holds an energy advantage due to its heavy use of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas, thus giving them the juice needed to fuel massive AI buildouts.

The comments highlight the administration’s broader push for abundant, cheap energy combined with a business-friendly approach to blockchain technology.

The pledge Trump is selling at home

The optimistic pitch runs into a domestic problem. On July 23, at an event at EPA headquarters, Trump expanded a nonbinding plan meant to shield households from the cost of the data center boom, according to E&E News.

Almost 200 more companies and utilities, plus close to half the nation’s governors, all Republicans, signed his Ratepayer Protection Pledge, which asks signatories to limit electricity price increases on homeowners.

“It’s only fair that the cost of building the new infrastructure should be borne by the corporations themselves, not by the American consumers,” Trump said.

This wasn’t received well in some quarters that dismissed the pledge as a toothless way to shift blame for the rising energy costs ahead of the midterm elections.

Majority of US citizens are against the buildout

There has been a sharp spike in recent polls as well, with 71% of Americans opposing the construction of massive data facilities near their neighborhoods according to a Gallup poll. Support for the data centers also fell from 37% to 24%.

The resistance is causing division between the people and the government. Residents in Nevada protested projects on public land, while Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered temporary halts to water and power consumption so auditors could properly assess water and power use. According to political analysts, projects facing direct pushback from the locals run a roughly fifty-fifty chance of being canceled altogether.

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