A pro-AI writer says AI data centers are a different matter

Derek Thompson, a writer who co-wrote the book "Abundance" and argues Americans should build more, says AI data centers do not deserve the same push as new housing. In a Business Insider interview, he said he is not against data centers. But he does not see them as equal to homes for people.

What he said

A data center is a huge building full of computers that run AI tools. Thompson calls them "houses for chips." Then he sharpens the joke: they are really "igloos for chips," because they are kept very cold.

He said he feels strongly about removing barriers to housing where people want to live. He feels less strongly about letting every AI company build a data center wherever it wants. His line: houses for people matter more as public policy than houses for chips.

The crowding-out worry

Thompson pointed to a graph from Jason Furman, an economist at Harvard. It shows that over the last year, data center construction rose by more than 60%. Over the same period, building of hospitals, offices, housing and manufacturing facilities all fell.

His reading is that data centers are "eating the economy" and pulling money away from other projects. The material does not say whether the graph proves that one thing caused the other. It is his view of what the numbers suggest.

Who he is

Thompson is a longtime Atlantic writer who left in 2025 to start his own Substack, a platform where writers sell subscriptions. Barack Obama reportedly reads him to keep up on AI. He told the interviewer that AI coverage pays best: "dimes for analysis, dollars for facts, and Benjamins for facts about artificial intelligence."

He said that pull is real. Between 10% and 20% of subscribers drop off over a year, and seeing the revenue line slip makes him want to work harder. He called AI the most important and most interesting story in the world, and said its income lets him write other pieces, like his essay "Everything Is Television."

What to do

The interview frames data centers as a hot local issue. The interviewer said Americans largely dislike them and do not want them in their communities. If a plan appears near you, a few things are worth tracking:

• How much power the building would use
• How much land it would take
• What else could be built on that land or with that money

What is not known

The excerpt does not give details on any specific data center project, local power use, or a policy proposal. It is one writer's opinion, backed by one economist's graph.