The Data Center Debate: Power, Water, and National Security

Kevin O'Leary came on the Glenn Beck program to address the growing controversy over data center construction in rural America, using his proposed $16 billion facility in Box Elder County, Utah as the central case study. The conversation quickly moved beyond local concerns to the strategic stakes of the AI race with China.

O'Leary agreed with Beck's framing that data centers are fundamentally about power, not data. "In the last eighteen months, the Chinese using primarily coal burning turbines... they've built 400 gigawatts of new power for China, its economy, and its efforts to dominate AI. How many have we built that's new in America? Zero." This power gap, he argued, is the real bottleneck for American competitiveness.

The Local Trade-Offs

On water consumption—the most sensitive issue in drought-prone Utah—O'Leary pushed back hard against claims that modern data centers would drain the Great Salt Lake. He described a "closed loop system" for chip cooling, similar to a car radiator, and said the first phase of his project would use "no different than a golf course in Utah." He promised to make the water permit application public in late August, inviting scrutiny.