RUTH SUNDERLAND: Will Nimbys burst the AI bubble?

AI data centres are becoming a political and investment risk, according to Barclays, as opposition from US NIMBY protesters grows. The article links the week’s £50m wealth boost for Lord Rothschild’s Volex stake—driven by rising data-centre demand, especially in the US—to warning that anger about large facilities used to train new models could shape November midterm elections. It cites an estimated $3 trillion to flow into AI data centres globally between 2026 and 2030, much of it for America. The resistance is now broadening into wider anti-AI sentiment, and Anthropic plans to cite public backlash and pushback risk in its stock-market float later this year.