‘This is not an anti-tech town’: backlash to datacenter in city once home to IBM

What happened: Treetop Companies explored a roughly 1-gigawatt AI datacenter on about 143 acres in East Fishkill, New York. Residents organized against it, and the town adopted a three-year moratorium on datacenters larger than 20 megawatts. Key numbers: About 1 gigawatt proposed, over 1m sq ft, about 143 acres, 20 megawatt moratorium threshold, ban until July 2029, town Why it matters: The backlash in a former IBM semiconductor town shows communities questioning whether AI infrastructure benefits justify its electricity, water and land use. The developer has appealed the moratorium.

Treetop Companies explored a roughly 1-gigawatt AI datacenter on about 143 acres in East Fishkill, New York. Residents organized against it, and the town adopted a three-year moratorium on datacenters larger than 20 megawatts.

The backlash in a former IBM semiconductor town shows communities questioning whether AI infrastructure benefits justify its electricity, water and land use. The developer has appealed the moratorium.