A new American Energy Institute report shows that foreign billionaires have provided funding upwards of $39 million to the anti-AI data center movement in the United States, with experts saying AI infrastructure must be advanced in order to assert American tech dominance over communist China.
Founder, CEO and Chairman of State Armor as well as expert on Chinese influence in America Michael Lucci told The Center Square: “Either the United States or communist China will dominate artificial intelligence, and therefore, likely dominate the leading technologies of the 21st-century.”
“China is actively executing strategies to win this competition,” Lucci said.
“The world we leave behind for our children and grandchildren will be a very dark one if a communist regime has technological dominance over the United States of America,” Lucci said.
“We will enter a dark ages as communist China exports their governance and technological models to countries currently aligned with the United States,” Lucci said.
Lucci said that foreign money funding the anti-AI data center movement is “classic political warfare for the detriment of our sovereignty and ultimately our way of life.”
“The United States has dominated the last two industrial revolutions,” Lucci said. “As a result, our western human rights centered worldview has become the dominant global worldview.”
“That will all change if we lag behind in the next industrial revolution,” Lucci said.
“Foreign interference should be given no hold and no opportunity to dictate outcomes for the United States,” Lucci said.
Lucci told The Center Square that “the best thing for the world is if the United States wins, and foreign interference to prevent that is a travesty, not just against the United States, but also against people around the world who wish for a global order based in freedom.”
“Americans must reject foreign philosophies and political interference that would undermine our national security,” Lucci said.
“The United States persistently faces foreign attempts to interfere in our domestic politics to undermine our technological development,” Lucci said.
“Some of this comes from direct enemies like Communist China and Russia,” Lucci said. “Other times it comes from wrong-headed European leftists who view technological development and energy consumption as an inherent evil.”
CEO of the American Energy Institute Jason Isaac told The Center Square that his organization’s report “makes clear that opposition to U.S. data center expansion is not organic or purely local.”
“It is being fueled by a coordinated network of activist groups backed by more than $39 million in foreign funding,” Isaac said.
“That has serious implications,” Isaac said. “It means foreign-aligned interests are actively working to slow the buildout of infrastructure that underpins America’s AI leadership, economic growth, and national security.”
“Policymakers should view calls for moratoriums and restrictions with a higher degree of scrutiny, because they may reflect outside influence rather than genuine domestic priorities,” Isaac said.
Isaac emphasized the point that “this debate is not just about data centers, it is about whether the United States will build the infrastructure needed to remain a global leader in innovation.”
“Delays or moratoriums don’t just pause construction, they push investment, jobs, and technological leadership elsewhere,” Isaac said.
Isaac also noted that “transparency matters” and that “the report shows a pattern: the same network of organizations that have long opposed American energy development are now targeting AI infrastructure.”
As Isaac alluded to, American Energy Institute’s report revealed that “according to tax filings, annual reports, and grant databases, 12 organizations actively opposing U.S. data center development have collectively received more than $39 million from foreign donors.”
These billionaires and foundations are based in several European countries including Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Denmark, with a notable foreign donor being Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, the report said.
Organizations receiving such funding that oppose American AI infrastructure include 350.org, Americans for Financial Reform, GAIA, and more.
Executive Director of Americans for Public Trust Caitlin Sutherland said in a statement to The Center Square: “Foreign nationals, charities, and governments are exploiting loopholes to funnel their foreign dark money into American policy fights, including protests, climate activism, and litigation.”
“The threat of foreign influence is real and should concern all Americans,” Sutherland said.
