More than a dozen Raleigh residents urged the city council on Tuesday to pause data center development, citing concerns about electricity, water and neighborhoods. “What is this absence of transparency and the absence of democracy?” resident Katie Boatner asked. “We are the constituency.”
Raleigh is now North Carolina’s largest city without a data center moratorium. At least 47 local governments across the state had adopted temporary pauses as of last week, according to analyst Frank Muraca.
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Why have buildings filled with computers become so unpopular, so quickly?
Data centers are where the largely invisible world of artificial intelligence meets the ground. They require land, power lines and cooling equipment to keep rows of servers running around the clock. For people already uneasy about AI, data centers offer something tangible to oppose.
The unease is even clearer when AI gets a street address. A Elon University Poll published last month found 53% of North Carolina adults would oppose a large data center in their community, compared with 20% who would support one. Opposition had risen nine percentage points since March.
In Raleigh, opposition has already helped derail one proposal. Beacon Partners withdrew plans in August for a 100,000-square-foot data center on Jones Sausage Road after more than 30 people signed up to speak against it.
“There’s no doubt that the data centers are losing the information war,” said Evan Nierman, founder of the crisis communications firm Red Banyan.
The industry is beefing up ad spending to counter the backlash. North Carolina Connects poured more than $367,000 into billboards, television and audio ads promoting the economic benefits of data centers, according to federal advertising records. The campaign is backed in part by the Data Center Coalition, whose members include Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Google.
While companies make a more visible case to the public, much of the work required to land a data center still happens behind closed doors.
That strategy may help a project gain political support early, Nierman said, while leaving nearby residents feeling like the conversation began without them.
“They’re spending way more time making the case to policymakers and far less time convincing the people who have to live next door to their facilities,” Nierman said.
Inside Amazon’s Richmond County deal
Amazon’s $10 billion Richmond County data center moved through most of the development process under a code name: Project Blue Marlin.
Amazon Vice President Shannon Kellogg said the company spent about 18 months before the June 2025 announcement working with Duke Energy, county authorities and economic development officials.
That courtship unfolded in a community searching for a new economic engine after losing textile jobs. Richmond County had considered 47 companies for its publicly owned industrial site, according to Economic Development Director Martie Butler. Amazon stood out because it was well funded, had completed similar projects elsewhere and agreed to pay for needed water infrastructure.
Amazon also began cultivating relationships with local leaders.
“It wasn’t in a public forum,” Butler said. “They just met with each municipality and the county commissioners individually.”
Amazon shared presentations, exchanged contact information with local leaders and made representatives available to answer questions.
“I would give them credit for coming in up front and building those relationships early on,” Butler said.
Butler confirmed that nondisclosure agreements were signed a few months before Amazon’s announcement, although she did not say who signed them or what information they covered.
County commissioners held public hearings as the project moved forward. The records, however, did not identify what was being built.
In April 2025, commissioners rezoned about 50 acres near the county-owned Energy Way Industrial Park from rural residential to heavy industrial. Public records referenced nearby power sources and other infrastructure without mentioning Amazon, Project Blue Marlin or a data center.
At the May 6 Board of Commissioners meeting, the public agenda listed hearings on the sale of Energy Way and a former poultry farm. A resolution inside the 97-page meeting packet disclosed that the county had entered “private negotiations” with Project Blue Marlin.
The resolution described a $10 billion “heavy industrial facility,” approximately 800 projected jobs and the proposed sale of nearly 700 acres for about $26.1 million. It did not disclose that the facility would be a data center or that Amazon was behind it.
Those details became public June 4, when Amazon and Gov. Josh Stein announced the project. Amazon said the campus would create at least 500 permanent jobs, along with thousands of construction and supply-chain positions.
Richmond County resident Courtney Stoddard said the process felt like a back-door deal.
“We were not made aware until it was too late,” Stoddard wrote in an email to WRAL.
Richmond County says it followed state law and handled Project Blue Marlin like other economic development prospects. Butler said the county disclosed the expected investment and jobs, while its land-use plan outlined the industries permitted in areas zoned for heavy industry.
The secrecy was not unique to data centers. Butler said projects involving hog processing, chemical manufacturing, foundries and other industries also had not been publicly identified before officials made decisions.
The process allowed residents to know that a major industrial development was coming. It did not give them the information needed to assess the demands of a data center or address those concerns before the deal advanced.
How much secrecy is necessary?
The industry says early confidentiality can protect land negotiations, security information and business plans from competitors. The question dividing developers and residents is how much must remain secret and for how long.
Anita Verma-Lallian, founder of Arizona Land Consulting, works directly on data center developments.
“I do see the necessity for certain things to remain confidential, but I also think there is a decent amount of information that you can make public to communities,” Verma-Lallian said.
Timing matters, too. Verma-Lallian said residents should have an opportunity to review plans and ask about power, water, noise and nearby homes before a project reaches the brink of approval.
“A lot of times projects will show up on agendas when they’re about to get voted on by a council, and usually at that point it’s a little late,” Verma-Lallian said.
Amazon told WRAL that keeping expansion plans confidential is common.
“It is not unusual for any cloud provider to keep their expansion plans confidential for competitive purposes,” an Amazon spokesperson said.
WRAL asked Amazon to explain whether the agreements prevented officials from telling residents that a data center was under consideration and how disclosing that basic fact would have revealed trade secrets or other competitive information. WRAL also asked who signed the agreements and when the restrictions ended.
Amazon did not answer after more than a week and several follow-ups. Finally, a spokesperson said they “aren't ready to talk about that yet.”
Microsoft is taking a different approach. The company, which is building a data center in Person County, announced in March that it would stop using nondisclosure agreements with local governments and work to terminate existing agreements.
Microsoft said it would continue protecting trade secrets and sensitive security information while disclosing more about proposed developments.
“This shift is about strengthening public trust, enabling better dialogue, and ensuring that our growth is matched by meaningful engagement,” the company said.
The withdrawal of the Jones Sausage Road proposal showed Raleigh residents that opposition could change the course of a project. Their message Tuesday was that the city should not wait for another fight to decide how data centers will be handled.
“Use this time to work with the community,” resident Mickey Brigham told council members, “to pass strong and specific regulations that will protect the city.”