US Needs New AI Social Contract to Beat China in $1 Billion Data Center Race

2 articles · Updated · Fox News · Aug 25

Rick Perry argued the U.S. cannot win the AI race with China on chips and capital alone, saying public support will break if communities absorb data-center costs without lasting gains.
Multibillion-dollar projects are growing in size and in demands for power, water and land, while AI companies scale toward trillion-dollar valuations with far fewer jobs than past industrial booms created.
Perry said the political risk is sharper because AI threatens middle-class professional work — including software, design, accounting and legal analysis — that many workers long saw as automation-proof.
He urged AI developers to leave durable local benefits behind, including upgraded grids, community-college AI institutes, apprenticeships, regional compute access and venture funds for host communities.
Without that social license to operate, he warned, zoning fights, tighter regulation and local backlash could slow U.S. AI buildout even as China treats the technology as a geopolitical priority.