Because these data centers put enormous pressure on local utilities, pay 0 dollars back into the local economy, and get tax breaks. Often they are facilitated by backroom deals with local politicians. This plays both into anxieties surrounding AI and general corruption.
Despite tax breaks and infrastructure requirements, these data centers still represent a massive windfall for the cities where they are built.
The problem is most people don't feel a personal connection to an increase in city revenue. Most cities are not going to pass it along as a tax cut - they're going to disperse it into parks and roads and schools and salaries.
Add to that that they are (at least perceived to be) supporting AI, which the majority of people do not want, and data centers are physical faceless embodiments of big tech corporations, which people are increasingly against.
