There are 5,000 data centers operating in the United States today, and Jason Oxman said they account for a low single-digit percentage of the country's electricity use.
Voters in Virginia and Texas are blaming data centers for their power bills, and politicians in both parties are responding with construction pauses. Oxman's answer is that the industry is being asked to defend the buildings that already run the internet, and that the argument is really about artificial intelligence.
"There are 5,000 data centers in the country today. And those have been around for many, many years."
Oxman runs the trade association that represents the American technology industry in Washington, so he is the person the industry sends when the political weather turns against it.
I listened to the full segment so you can skip it.
Here are the 5 takeaways that matter.
👤 Guest: Jason Oxman, chief executive of the Information Technology Industry Council, the Washington trade association for the technology industry
🎙️ Host: Ed Ludlow, who anchors Bloomberg Tech from San Francisco
📰 Published: 1 September 2026 on YouTube (Bloomberg Tech)
🔴 YouTube | 🟣 Apple Podcasts | ⏱️ 8 min
Key Takeaways
Oxman's rebuttal on power bills is a share number: low single digits of national electricity use He said other factors explain the increases voters are seeing
The industry and the administration have run two ratepayer protection pledge events Technology companies and utilities pledged not to raise rates on consumers
The show's data has Democrats accounting for 73% of data-center advertising spending
Opposition to data centers is functioning as a proxy for opposition to AI Governors in red and blue states have paused construction because of it
His competitive frame is China, and his warning is that the investment relocates rather than stops
1. Jobs, and the Power Bill
Ludlow said voter anger over electricity bills and water use has put politicians on the defensive even in data-center strongholds like Virginia and Texas, and asked Oxman to lay out the landscape.
Oxman started by renaming the buildings. "And there's been a lot of talk about construction of data centers, which are essentially AI factories."
His first argument is employment, and he gave a range rather than a figure. He said AI infrastructure investment is creating tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of jobs across construction and the trades, and among the scientists who operate the sites
On the power bills he made a flat denial and put a number behind it. "The answer to that, again, is in the facts, they're not. Data centers use a low single-digit percentage of overall power in the country."
He did not dismiss the complaint itself. "There are a lot of other factors that go in, but it is incumbent on the tech industry to respond to these concerns." Oxman said that response has picked up in recent weeks
2. The Ratepayer Pledges
Ludlow pressed on the position: Oxman represents the industry, and yet appears to accept that the public's concerns are warranted.
His answer put government and industry on the same side of the problem. Oxman said it is both, and gave the pledge events as the example
The specific mechanism is a commitment on consumer rates. "The Trump administration has convened not one, but two ratepayer protection agreements pledge events where the tech industry in partnership with utilities is pledging not to raise rates on consumers."
The second mechanism is the industry paying for supply. Oxman cited multi-billion-dollar investments by technology companies in power generation and in modernizing grids "Investing in power companies themselves, you've seen Microsoft's investment in restarting nuclear power capability adjacent to one of their data centers, for example." "Meta has invested in Louisiana in additional generation capability as well."
He conceded the ground is not held. "But you're right, the tech industry can do more, and we are endeavoring to do more."
3. Why the Ads Are Running
Ludlow brought the show's own data on advertising around data centers, broken out by party, and said Democrats account for the vast majority of it at 73%.
Oxman said the spending is corrective rather than promotional. He put it down to a need to correct public perception and feeling about data centers
His counter-history is that these buildings predate the argument. "And data centers have been around for decades. You know, I've lived in Northern Virginia for 30 years. And the data centers in Northern Virginia, of course, are the reason we have the Internet." "The reason we're able to send emails, the reason that our doctors can access our medical records, the reason we're able to do everything that we can do to communicate and stay in touch with each other."
The scale claim is the one he wants remembered. "There are 5,000 data centers in the country today. And those have been around for many, many years."
He acknowledged the local objections and then set them against a national test. "A lot of community concerns being raised about what they look like and their power usage, but I think the facts really are there to address the underlying question about data centers, which is, are they good for the American economy, good for the American people? And I think the answer to that is an unequivocal yes."
4. Data Centers as AI's Proxy
Ludlow asked how far Oxman distinguishes the public's concern about data centers from its concern about artificial intelligence in general.
He agreed the two have merged. "And I do think there is a certain aspect of this discussion that renders data centers a proxy for AI." Oxman said that conflation shows up in a lot of people's views
The policy consequence is that AI regulation is being pursued by blocking buildings. He said there are ways to address the proper regulatory environment for AI without banning data centers, which is what the proxy has produced Governors in both red and blue states have put pauses and moratoria on data-center construction because of those concerns
What he wants policymakers to separate is the rule-making from the construction, and he said the association is encouraging them to do so
5. The Competition Is China
Oxman took Millard's Brazil segment and made it his own argument. He said Brazil is doing what it is doing because it is competing with Argentina and Chile for data-center investment
The American version of that contest has a different opponent. "America is in competition as well. The competition is with China."
His conclusion is that the investment is not optional if the growth is wanted. "And that competition should lead us to want to make the AI infrastructure investment in the United States to ensure that we have that economic growth available to us."
The closing line makes the choice a location, not a decision. "They're going to get built and the AI investment is going to be made. The question is, is it going to happen here, which we certainly hope, or is it going to happen overseas, which we hope it won't."
Bonus Insights
Oxman opened by picking up Millard's Brazil report from the previous segment and saying politicians in both countries recognize that AI is the infrastructure of the future
Ludlow noted that the argument is sharpening as the midterms approach, with specific races in which data centers have become a central issue
Oxman's bottom line is that the fight over data centers is a fight over AI conducted through zoning and power bills, and that the buildings get built either way — the only question the United States controls is whether they are built inside it.
Products, Companies & Tools Mentioned
Information Technology Industry Council (Oxman's association, which represents the technology industry in Washington and is lobbying against construction pauses)
Microsoft (His example of an operator paying for its own supply: restarting nuclear power capability adjacent to one of its data centers)
Meta (Has invested in additional generating capability in Louisiana)
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