The data center backlash is sending AI infrastructure to some unexpected places

On July 18, 142 protests were held across 42 states . They all shared one goal: to stop data center development in American communities. The protests are part of a growing movement to keep data centers out of towns across the country. Already, 183 U.S. towns have data center moratoriums or bans , according to the U.S. Data Center Moratorium Tracker. Little wonder why. Many Americans are unhappy about having the mammoth facilities nearby, citing concerns about their enormous electricity and water demands, unfulfilled promises of job creation, and noise. A March 2026 Gallup poll found that 70% of surveyed Americans oppose the construction of AI data centers in their local areas. As local governments make it more difficult to build AI infrastructure, some companies, both domestic and international, are looking for real estate in unusual places. Big, blue, and perfect for AI infrastructure Portland, Oregon-based startup Panthalassa wants to bring data centers to the ocean. Following prototypes off the coast of Washington state, Panthalassa’s orb-shaped pilot model, Ocean-3, will float hundreds of miles into the Pacific. There, it will convert ocean waves into electricity by using pressurized seawater to spin an internal turbine. The generated energy will power a network of connected computers inside the sphere. Typically, data centers require huge amounts of water to cool their servers, a key point of contention for critics. But Panthalassa hopes to sidestep those concerns by using the naturally cool ocean environment to keep its system cold. The model has attracted $225 million in funding and a nearly $2 billion valuation before even launching. And Panthalassa isn’t alone. China’s Shanghai Lingang undersea data center, six miles off the coast of Shanghai, is the first wind-powered underwater facility of its kind. The project uses 95% green electricity, reducing power consumption by 22.8% , according to the Chinese government. The project’s wind-powered electricity, paired with natural ocean cooling, reduces water use by 100%. The project had received $226 million in investment as of October 2025. Reaching for the stars Y Combinator startup Starcloud is building data centers in space. The Redmond, Washington-based company launched its first model, Starcloud-1, into space in November 2025, making it the first company to train an LLM in space. Its extraterrestrial location sidesteps some of the environmental constraints facing Earth-based data centers. The system is powered by nearby solar energy and uses the vacuum of space to dissipate heat without water . Starcloud says its model offers 10 times lower energy costs, even accounting for hefty launch expenses. Its second satellite is set to launch in October 2026, with 100 times the power-generation capacity of the original. Founded in 2024, Starcloud became the fastest unicorn in YC history and raised $170 million in March 2026, according to YC. Other companies are working on similar projects. Axiom Space launched low-Earth-orbit data centers in January 2026 as part of a network of Kepler satellites designed to process data and power AI models from space. Big players are also looking beyond Earth. Elon Musk’s SpaceX filed with the FCC for a constellation of up to 1 million satellites to form a solar-powered data center. In March, Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin filed plans to bring more than 50,000 data centers to space. Google is exploring the idea, too, through its proposed Project Suncatcher . Data centers in low places For Scandinavian tech innovators, the solution is the ground beneath their feet, literally. Norway-based Lefdal Mine Datacenter is located 197 feet below sea level and more than 2,000 feet inside a mountain. The former mine was converted into a 1.3 million-square-foot data center in 2017 and now houses projects from IBM and Norway’s national data-storage provider, Sigma2. It can support 80 megawatts of capacity , according to Data Center Dynamics. The facility is powered by hydro and wind energy and uses cold fjord water to cool its computer systems, reducing the energy needed for cooling. Lefdal is carbon neutral and plans to use heated process water from the facility to support a local salmon hatchery. Its underground location also keeps it largely out of sight, and Lefdal told DCD in December 2025 that it had yet to receive a complaint from locals. Swedish Bahnhof Data Centers operates seven facilities across Stockholm, Malmö, and Gothenburg, two of which are underground. Bahnhof’s Pionen facility is housed in a converted Cold War nuclear bunker, while one of its Gothenburg facilities sits inside an underground rock cavern. Pionen, Bahnhof’s largest facility, is built about 100 feet underground beneath Stockholm’s White Mountains and has 800 kilowatts of capacity. Heat from its servers is recycled into the local district heating network , according to Hirsch Group. Your newest roommate As financial and environmental tensions around data centers grow, California-based Span sees an opportunity to shrink the infrastructure itself. Through a partnership with Nvidia, Span has developed a cabinet-sized prototype that customers can install in their homes. Each unit has a two-megawatt capacity and uses liquid-cooled servers instead of fans, reducing the noise and physical footprint associated with large-scale facilities. For many people, concerns about data center infrastructure center on energy prices, which could rise by 6% over the next year as AI development expands, according to Goldman Sachs. But Span’s technology costs a flat monthly fee of about $150 , and taps a home’s underused electrical capacity, according to Fortune .