Palantir CTO warns data-center backlash could stall US AI race

Palantir’s chief technology officer says community opposition to new data centers and power constraints pose a bigger threat to America’s AI competitiveness than China itself.

During Palantir’s American Builder Summit, chief technology officer Shyam Sankar warned that the United States faces a more immediate obstacle to leading the AI race than China: growing community resistance to the construction of data centers and the associated power needs. He explained that the massive rollout of computing infrastructure required for advanced AI is encountering pushback over electricity consumption, water use, noise, and cost burdens on utility customers, with some projects already delayed or cancelled.

This opposition has entered the 2026 midterm political arena, prompting candidates in swing states like Pennsylvania to campaign on the environmental and economic impacts of such facilities. Sankar pointed to a submarine-parts manufacturer that slashed its production planning from weeks to under an hour, freeing capacity for a third shift, as evidence of AI’s productivity benefits. He argued that the US risks “suicide” - self-inflicted slowdown - if it does not muster the political will and investment to diffuse AI across the economy, rather than chasing the elusive goal of artificial general intelligence.