A single nonprofit network with alleged links to China’s Communist Party has managed to block or delay $23.6 billion worth of AI data center projects across the United States. It’s roughly the GDP of Iceland, tied up in red tape and local moratoria.
The findings come from a June 2026 report by the Bitcoin Policy Institute, which traced 21 anti-data-center campaigns across 14 states back to the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) and its connections to tech entrepreneur-turned-activist Neville Roy Singham. The campaigns have resulted in 10 temporary moratoria, one permanent ban, and four projects either rejected outright or withdrawn by developers.
The playbook and its biggest targets
Two casualties stand out. A $12 billion Blackstone-backed AI campus in Wisconsin was blocked. A $5 billion facility in Maryland met the same fate. Together, those two projects alone account for more than $17 billion of the total delayed investment.
According to the BPI report, Singham has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into left-wing organizing over the past several years. His financial capacity traces back to 2017, when he sold his software consulting firm Thoughtworks for approximately $785 million. Since then, he has built an extensive nonprofit network that the report alleges has produced anti-AI content closely aligned with narratives pushed by Chinese state media.
