When AI Comes to Town: The Data Center Boom

The race to build artificial intelligence is transforming communities far from Silicon Valley. Across Arizona, Louisiana, Michigan, and Texas, developers are proposing and building massive new data center campuses that promise economic growth while raising concerns about water, energy and land use. In many cases, local officials find themselves navigating high-stakes decisions with far fewer resources than the developers and Big Tech hyperscalers at the negotiating table. Through on-the-ground reporting, this series examines how America's AI ambitions are reshaping towns and cities on the front lines of the data center boom.

A small town voted against a $16 billion AI data center. Weeks later, construction beganOpenAI and Oracle are building a $16 billion data center in Saline Township, Michigan - in a farm town that voted against it. Fortune AI reporter Sharon Goldman traveled there to hear from residents and learn about their effort to fight back.