Want a data center in your community? The Georgia Chamber wants to know.

The effort is one of several the chamber has launched this year in response to the growing backlash against data centers and artificial intelligence. It highlights a broader effort taking shape with Big Tech firms and business recruiters to paint data centers in a different light after they’ve emerged as widely unpopular across the political spectrum, including in Georgia.

“It’s important for the business community to be out there, provide the facts and not to argue over emotions or negate any concerns that people have,” Chris Clark, president and CEO of the Georgia Chamber, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“But just to say, ‘Here’s the information. Make an informed decision,’” he added.

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Data centers, which are gigantic warehouses that keep computer servers online, have become big business in Georgia. The Atlanta region has been the fastest-growing data center market since 2023 and now ranks as the second-largest in the world, according to real estate services firm CBRE.

With that sudden surge in development has come a swift backlash. Concerns over data centers’ power needs, water usage, size and proximity to residential areas has led many cities and counties to implement moratoriums and rewrite their zoning codes.

It’s become a political liability in some places, with the U.S. Senate Republicans’ campaign arm warning in a memo to Big Tech firms that data centers could cost them competitive races, according to Axios.

An AJC poll in April found that majorities of Republican and Democratic voters surveyed disapproved of building data centers in their communities. Mitchell Brown, a partner at the Cygnal polling firm, also recently noted that just 23% of likely Georgia voters have a favorable view of data centers.

Still, the centers can be huge generators of property tax revenue.

Clark said that pushback is often overstated and misinformed, saying multiple data centers have operated in Georgia before the AI boom with minimal controversy.

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Gov. Brian Kemp had a similar message for a crowd at the Gwinnett County Chamber last week, focusing on the global implications of AI development.

“I’m in the belief that we have to win the AGI (artificial general intelligence) race,” he said. “We cannot let China control that. It’s a matter of not only economic security, but it’s a matter of national security.”

The Georgia Chamber launched its community designation program in May and hasn’t disclosed early inductees. For those that opt in, the chamber will assist in an infrastructure analysis, such as whether transmission lines and local water capacities make a data center feasible, and matching that with zoning and policy guidance.

“For those communities that are interested and do check the boxes, here’s the public way to go through this so everyone is informed,” Clark said. “It doesn’t mean you’re going to get a data center, but at least it means you’ve gone through the processes and you’ve got the right zoning in place to make it appealing.”

In July, the chamber launched the Georgia Digital Infrastructure Alliance, which consists of industry leaders, utilities, policymakers and community stakeholders to similarly promote data centers.

Its first efforts will include “Data Center 101″ briefings held across Georgia and lawmaker education meetings before 2027’s legislative session. Multiple pieces of data center legislation on incentives, tax policy and electricity have gained traction in recent years but have not been adopted.

“We’re not saying that every community needs a data center. They don’t,” Clark said. “ … But the ones that do, be proactive, engage the community, be transparent and then I think it makes it a lot easier for you to go out there and talk to the companies that are looking for locations.”