They use a lot of electricity and water. They make a lot of noise. IMO these things can all be resolved. And remember...Red China's leaders doesn't give a rat's hindquarters about power and water for their citizens,or about noise.
“AI is happening and will continue to happen. It will not be stopped. The only unanswered question is...who will win the race,the US or Red China? “
That is correct. However it does not make 5,000 datacenters necessary.
Each of the major hyperscalers (MS, AMZN, GooGL ETC.) is building enough capacity to win this race. We are overbuilding.