Kevin O'leary: 'I was wrong about Chinese agents and data centers' X
Here are two real women who O'Learly believed were Chinese agents. Btw, he's an investor in this project.
Posted on 07/12/2026 9:24:17 AM PDT by PROCON
The digital economy runs on data centers, a vital core of modern infrastructure most people never see. But there’s a debate brewing about data centers, with plenty of misinformation aimed at slowing data center development and, in some cases, halting it altogether. The Goldwater Institute has put together the following Free-Market Guide to Data Center Infrastructure to dispel some of the data center misconceptions.
Is it just “Big Tech” that needs data centers? What is really driving their growth?
No, it’s not just about “Big Tech.” Data centers are the 21st-century version of a power plant or water tower, providing the essential “digital flow” for every sector of the modern economy.
Hospitals rely on data centers for real-time access to electronic health records; banks use them to process millions of secure transactions per second; and manufacturing plants deploy them to power smart assembly lines. Every time you back up a photo, use GPS, stream a show, or when a student accesses an online portal for homework, a data center is involved.
Since every digital action requires a physical home, data centers need immense scale to support the global economy. What looks like an oversized warehouse is a highly engineered environment housing tens of thousands of servers operating with near-zero downtime. This necessitates specialized cooling, high-capacity fiber, and massive on-site power distribution. By building on large campuses, developers can grow in phases to meet the skyrocketing demand for AI and cloud computing while maintaining a predictable, high-value footprint.
Are data centers “resource hogs” that will drain local water supplies?
No, this claim is outdated and ignores modern technological innovation.
Data centers are among the most water-efficient industrial facilities ever built. Nationwide, data centers consume less than 0.05 percent of total U.S. freshwater withdrawals, a tiny fraction compared to agriculture, thermoelectric power generation, and manufacturing. Furthermore..
(Excerpt) Read more at goldwaterinstitute.org ...
Where Do You Want Your Data To Live?
Here or in China.
Now at the same time, China is building Data Centers as fast as they can, already building over 500 new ones in 2023 and 2024, with over 1000 more in the pipeline.
So, now if Data Centers aren’t available in the U.S., where do you think your data, you know, your banking info, your medical info, your naughty selfies, etc., is going to migrate to?
Remember there is no such thing as ‘the Cloud’. It’s just someone else’s computer.
You are so crazy. How has FR not deleted your account already? If any one clearly defines the role of a troll, you are it.
I don’t store anything on the “cloud,” and I’ve told anyone and everyone I know not to trust it. As for where to build one, I don’t really have an answer for you because I know that building them here is destroying everything around them and making people sick. Build them in Europe, the UK, in space (!!!), uninhabited islands out to sea, anywhere but here.
It is their location and the noise they generate that is the problem. I have seen videos of data centers right next door to homes with their stadium lights on all night and the generators humming all day every day.
Also Master Electrician since 1976, “Class A” (unlimited) Commercial Contractor license since 1978.
Long time retired....now 81
Major supply house tells me I’ve trained more electrical contractors that anyone in our large metro area....
Left out I was founder and CEO of major technology company in 1986 that engineered, designed and constructed large Data Centers for Fortune 500 companies for 10 years.......negotiated contracts (not bid) over $1mm each, which would be 3x or more today......
Kevin O'leary: 'I was wrong about Chinese agents and data centers' X
Here are two real women who O'Learly believed were Chinese agents. Btw, he's an investor in this project.
A troll says that a single bit mining facility (not a data center) caused both electric rates and nat gas prices to explode IN AN ENTIRE STATE! Not only that but it somehow caused electric rates in two different utilities to explode according to the troll. A facility of any kind uses only a single electric utility.
So, the troll is calling me a troll. Because I realize how utterly preposterous and retarded that is.
You just can't keep from spreading the hate can you? Just stop it now before you make yourself look like even more of an idiot than you already do.
I didn't say rates exploded state wide, just in my area, but for your information, YES, rates have exploded in many areas of Indiana, especially in the N/W area. Do your research.
First of all you have named TWO DIFFERENT utilities. A facility doesn't use two different utilities. That's a LIE. Or maybe you actually don't know that they wouldn't use multiple electric providers.
The facility you named as being the alleged source of all the (alleged) rate increases is not even in NW Indiana.
Then you also added in a bizarre claim about nat gas prices exploding because of a single facility. AN OBVIOUS LIE.
You just can't stop lying can you troll?
I did research. I didn't find anything about a 50% electricity increase.
Miami-Cass REMC implemented a base rate adjustment in late 2023, raising the monthly single-phase facilities charge from $31 to $40 and overall rates by roughly 6.5%. No new base rate increases have been announced for 2025 or 2026But if you have a link that proves that Miami-Cass REMC electric rates went up 50%, just give it to me. From what I can tell, that is what that facility would use. I still wouldn't believe that a single bit mining facility could possibly have caused it. That's utterly moronic. But it would prove you weren't lying. I am sure you don't have a link troll.
That would still leave your preposterous claim about that facility causing nat gas prices to explode.
You just can't keep from spreading the hate can you?
Accusing someone of "spreading hate", in order to avoid facts, is a leftie technique. You're a leftie, right? Or possibly you're extremely confused, and you actually believe everything you're saying. But at this time the evidence points to you being a leftie troll.
He didn’t say that the data scientists’ conclusions about attacks on the data centers coming from foreign sources were incorrect. Straw man.
As I pointed out before, your linked article says that Interior Secretary Burghum says anti-data center activity has foreign sources.
That’s it, I’m done with you. You evidently like causing strife here. Just stop, leave it be, cuz we’re never gonna agree. If you don’t, I will report you to the admins.
Still waiting on your substantiation of that alleged freaking 50% increase in electric rates over the entire freaking state of Indiana - or some area of it - caused by a single freaking facility! And not even a large facility from what I can tell. And some huge increase in natural gas prices - over the entire state I guess - caused by that same single freaking facility.
Let’s see who the admins think is the troll!
Please refrain from any further comments to me.
You may think you don’t store anything in the cloud, but pretty much everyone you deal with does.
Ever hear of AWS or GDS?
That’s Amazon Web Services and Google Data Services. They’ve been building Data Centers around the US for years.
That’s where your bank’s, your doctor’s, or your hospital’s data lives. That’s the ‘cloud’.
That's partly why the IT folks at my last job didn't like me too much. I kept all of my data local, including emails, and I advised others to do the same. And it's a good thing because the very day we were told our network was rock solid, and that it would never fail, someone cut a main line somewhere outside Indy and we lost access to the network for 10 days. 10 DAYS! And I worked on a military base so you can imagine how badly that affected the mission.
I’m often stunned that you think you’re opinion is the only one that matters.
Maybe a little Grok AI facts would help all to see this more objectively.
Ranking of US States by Data Centers for AI (2026)Virginia — ~650–685 facilities (the clear #1, “Data Center Capital”)
Texas — ~450–960+ (fastest growing, massive new builds)
California — ~320–330
Illinois — ~240–260
Ohio — ~220–250
Georgia — ~230–450+
Arizona — ~180–250
Pennsylvania — ~130–250
Florida — ~120–130
North Carolina — ~110–200+
Other growing states: Oregon, Washington, New York, Indiana, Michigan.
Impact on Electricity Prices (kWh)Data centers, especially AI/hyperscale ones, are driving up power costs:
Virginia: Wholesale prices up sharply — some areas saw increases as high as 267% over the last 5 years.
Residential bills rising noticeably.
Texas, Georgia, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania: 10–40%+ increases in affected regions.
National effect: Data centers now consume a large and growing share of US electricity (projected to push overall costs 6–29% higher in coming years in some models).
Before the big AI boom (pre-2022/2023), the impact was much smaller. Now in top states, data centers can account for 20–40%+ of local electricity demand, and those costs are being passed on to ratepayers.
Hmm - don’t these desalination plants need electricity to operate? Seems we are going to need Musk and/or other genius minded to embrace nuclear power and soon.
How Much Power Do They Use?
Modern desalination (especially reverse osmosis, the most common method) is energy-intensive:Typical large plant: 3–5 kWh per cubic meter of fresh water produced (roughly 11–19 kWh per 1,000 gallons).
A big seawater desalination plant can consume 50–200+ megawatts of continuous power — comparable to a small city or a large data center.
Energy usually accounts for 30–50% of the total operating cost.
Why It Matters
Desalination is very effective for turning seawater into drinking water, but the high electricity demand is one of the biggest drawbacks.
In places like California, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Australia, desalination plants often run on a mix of grid power + renewables (solar/wind) to reduce costs and emissions.
Newer plants are becoming more efficient, but electricity is still the main operational need.
I didn't say he said that. Whose the straw man? I said O'Leary admitted he was wrong about the people he named as Chinese agents.
As for foreign influences in this debate. China and Russia have always tried to influence US policies but that doesn't take away from the fact American are angry their electric rate are increasing and water is being diverted all to support data centers. They don't need the Chinese to tell them their utility rates will go up because they are.
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