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Posted on 05/16/2026 7:45:02 AM PDT by Eli Kopter
BOX ELDER COUNTY, Utah — Kevin O’Leary, an investor in the proposed 40,000- acre Stratos data centre campus in Box Elder County, accused two Utah groups opposing the project of being funded by the Chinese government.
O’Leary made the accusation on Fox News, targeting Alliance for a Better Utah and Elevate Strategies.
“Who would want us to stop building our electrical grid? Who would want to stop us from having compute capacity to develop AI? Which adversary would want that? There’s only one. It’s China.” O’Leary said.
In a social media exchange, Gabi Finlayson of Elevate Strategies pushed back on the claim.
“If we were Chinese operatives, we would be the worst operatives in the entire world. Someone alert Beijing that the payment portal to Jackie and I’s Amex bills is somehow broken,” Finlayson said.
Elizabeth Hutchings of Alliance for a Better Utah also denied the accusation.
(Excerpt) Read more at cp24.com ...
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Yes, these hick farmers who want their fields left alone are obvious Commies.
O’Leary is investing in data center construction. What would you expect him to say?
Kevin O’Leary is an interesting person. He’s also trash. I suspect he’d sell out his own family if the price were high enough.
I remember watching an episode of “Shark Tank” where an American farmer had invented an improved crop watering system. Kevin O’Leary was interested, but only if the farmer moved production overseas. Gotta make a few more cents per unit.
Nope, said the farmer. Production stays in the United States. O’Leary continued to press him, but the farmer stayed firm.
I don’t remember if the farmer got a deal or not.
“Yes, these hick farmers who want their fields left alone are obvious Commies.”
It’s absolutely an organic movement.
People are waking up to the ENORMOUS RESOURCES consumed by these giant datacenters...all to put them out of work.
Water is be biggest issue, followed by power and “heat islands”.
The “AI or Bust” corporations have severely underestimated the backlash. If they keep pushing (and they will) they will learn about the most base instincts of human survival.
He's never sacrificed blood here, but wants a say over locals and persons who grew up and lived for decades. A normal country would expedite his removal back one of his 'countries' so he can run amok there.
O'Leary has a vested financial interest in that data center, therefore I take his accusation with some scepticism.
What is that data center for, exactly, and how is it going to be used?
Data Spying Centers
O’Leary is not just making accusations. He says he has the receipts, that he went through all the IRS filings and other legal documents of the organization behind the protest, and that he’ll be publishing that info today.
I’m for AI development, but those data centers have destroyed the quality of life in nearby neighborhoods with the 24/hr/day noise they create. And the water issue isn’t a small one.
I’ve always wondered where the money came from for the massive push for “environmentalism” back in the late sixties and early seventies. It shut down America’s heavy industry.
The CCP would want to put them outside China so they don’t suck up their energy
Companies were already looking for cheap foreign labor at that point. Lawyers, activists, and NGOs took “environmentalism” seriously, but for the corporations it would have been an excuse for what they were doing anyway. Foreign governments didn’t need to get involved.
There is an issue with these huge data centers that consume large amounts of resources, in both power & water consumption, and the fact that the citizens are left holding the bill with larger costs in both limited resources of power & water.
That’s the spirit. When you don’t like what someone is saying accuse them of being a communist front or racis or some other equally odious and pejorative being.
Where do people like O’Leary get off condemning honest opposition for personal reasons because of their own obvious and entitled vested interest? They do it because their only reason for being is themselves and more money.
The billionaire class should be cruising for a good lesson and comeuppance but they won’t. For great ability and success there is a corresponding greater expectation. Most of them aren’t cutting it. Their only consideration is for more money for themselves; share holder value is mostly coincidental.
At least Carnegie built libraries.
I have a friend on a Texas water board. Hired buyers have scooped up most of the water rights in the area under cover and one-by-one... for a data center or to sell to an adjacent city. Doesn’t matter which. It is for money and capitalism. Everything has a price and is for sale. No boundaries.
I am an enthusiastic user of AI apps and chatbots, but the massive buildout of AI data centers is completely inappropriate at this time and has nothing to do with the fooling around that I use AI for.
The $100s of Billions being invested are creating an unmistakable bubble that is going to most likely have severe consequences for the economy in the not-so-distant future.
And the citizens are the ones that pay the price.
I see. Good explanation, thanks.
Capitalism is a method of scaling things up. If the fastest way to scale is to move manufacturing to non-capitalist countries, so be it.
Water is be biggest issue, followed by power and “heat islands”.
And yet Big Tech continues to push these resource hogging data centers in places like Arizona, where water is scarce and heat is plentiful. Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb...
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