The AI infrastructure boom is facing a “global blockade”: the wave of construction restrictions crosses the Atlantic Ocean, and the Microsoft (MSFT.US) Amsterdam project becomes the eye of the storm

The “wave of restrictions” on AI data centers set off by the US midterm elections is spreading across the Atlantic to Europe. The Zhitong Finance App learned that on Friday local time, a group of protesters broke into a Microsoft (MSFT.US) data center construction site in Amsterdam, kicking off a two-day rally. This is part of a global wave of resistance to the rapid expansion of the computing power required for AI.

According to the “Stop Dirty Data Centres” coalition, campaign groups have announced that they will launch operations in 16 countries on Friday and Saturday. The coalition brought together environmental organizations and digital rights campaigns to jointly call for the suspension of large-scale construction.

Allegedly, in Amsterdam on Friday, over 100 activists gathered at a Microsoft AI data center construction site. The crowd marched hand in hand, then broke into the site, climbed an engineering crane, hung balloons, and danced in the venue. Police watched from the sidelines. Some protesters held placards that read: “Demolish your data center.”

Pure Data Centres, the owner of the site, plans to invest more than 1 billion US dollars, backed by Brookfield's Oak Capital. The company said it is committed to communicating with local stakeholders.

“We implore the safe evacuation of personnel from the venue to have a conversation with us about this project and everyone's concerns,” the company said.

Other planned protests include a parade in Dublin, a demonstration outside the parliament building in Warsaw, and another protest against Microsoft data centers in Denmark.

Microsoft said it understands that the public has strong opinions about the project and respects everyone's right to peacefully express their demands, but it does not support any illegal acts.

The market is concerned about the tightening of AI regulations, and technology stocks are being sold off

From Spain to India to the US, boycotts continue to rise. US technology stocks fell sharply on Thursday due to market concerns that the US Democratic Party may introduce stricter regulations to suppress the AI development boom. Senator Bernie Sanders's previous “nationwide suspension of new data center construction” proposition, and the governor elected in Texas — one of the most important AI data center centers in the US — made a clear promise to suspend approval of new projects, jointly detonated this “liquidation” sell-off of the AI industry chain.

Protesters suggested that data centers will increase the strain on electricity and water supply resources, compete with housing and other industries for scarce resources, and slow down the implementation of climate goals; at the same time, they will also pose a risk of job loss. Large technology companies seize computing power and concentrate power, which may also pose a hidden danger to individuals and national security.

Technology companies, on the other hand, responded that data centers are the core carriers that meet global AI and cloud computing needs, and are critical infrastructure for enterprises, governments, and ordinary consumers.

The “Stop Dirty Data Centres” alliance emphasizes that they are not against technological progress, nor are they calling for the shutdown of existing data centers; they only advocate suspending the construction of large-scale projects until countries introduce clear regulatory rules.

On this, Europe's internal positions are conflicting: on the one hand, they want to catch up with the pace of AI development in the US and Asia and boost productivity; on the other hand, they also need to maintain relatively strict supervision and public protection mechanisms.

EU digital affairs director Henna Verkunin said in an interview on Thursday that Europe needs more data centers to support AI development, but construction must proceed carefully. “AI is definitely a critical technology; we must have autonomous computing power.”

Virkounin mentioned that Europe is increasing investment in chip manufacturing and AI startups, and plans to launch a number of large-scale computing power factories in the region.

But at the same time, she added, “For the public, one thing is critical — everyone must be sure that electricity bills will not skyrocket because of data centers, power outages will not be caused by computing power facilities, and such projects will not damage the environment.”

According to information, Google's (GOOGL.US) project in Finland has been criminally investigated due to land clean-up issues; Italy and Portugal are tightening data center environmental regulations; and Microsoft has also previously withdrawn from a data center project in the UK hampered by infrastructure delays.

The Netherlands currently has around 200 data centers in the planning, construction or operation phase.