A significant, emerging bottleneck for data center expansion is negative public perception. Consumers, blaming data centers for rising electricity bills, are driving local political pushback that cancels or delays projects, creating a socio-political risk for AI infrastructure development.
As US LLMs achieve capabilities China can't match due to compute limitations, China may restrict access to critical rare earths. This move would be a strategic play to pressure the US into sharing its most advanced AI technology, linking resource control with tech parity.
Despite market hype around AI, Morgan Stanley's analysis shows the top three performing thematic stock categories in 2025 were critical minerals, AI semiconductors, and defense. These 'Multipolar World' investments highlight that geopolitical tensions are currently a more powerful driver of returns than pure tech innovation.