Guthrie Suggests China May Be Behind Negative Data Center Sentiment in U.S.
Guthrie suspects misinformation spread by adversaries may be responsible for influencing public opinion on data centers
WASHINGTON, March 4, 2026 — House Energy and Commerce Chairman Brett Gutherie, R-Ky., said he believes it's possible that adversaries like China and Russia are feeding the U.S. press misinformation about data centers to sour the public on them.
Speaking at the ACA Connects summit Wednesday, Guthrie added that while he’s not sure that this is indeed what is happening, he believes that this may be part of a strategy to slow America’s ability to win the AI race.
“Whoever controls the flow of data and AI isn't going to be one of the super powers but the super power, and there’s only two countries that can do it, us or China” Guthrie said. “If you're China, what would you want to do to keep Americans from building data centers, how do you do that? You use our system of free press and freedom of information to influence people.”
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