Companies are demanding states cut red tape. Data center-wary voters may think differently

An aerial view of Project Boson in Archbald, PA, is pictured in close proximity to The Highland's neighborhood as well as Valley View High School (top left), Wednesday, April 15, 2026. Project Boson will replace an auto parts junkyard with a nearly 620,000-square-foot data center. Local residents have raised significant concerns. The Washington Post | The Washington Post | Getty Images Announcing a $20 billion economic development deal last June — the largest, by far, in Pennsylvania history — Gov. Josh Shapiro couldn't help but crow a bit. "This is the kind of deal that every state wants, every state is out competing for," he said. "But Pennsylvania won this deal. We got it done." Yet in the year since, it has also caused Shapiro no shortage of grief. That is because it involves two massive Amazon data centers in the state for cloud computing and artificial intelligence. And public opinion on data centers is souring considerably. In an Emerson College poll of 2,000 Pennsylvania adults released in December, 42% of respondents said they would oppose a data center in their community, while only 34% said they would support one. …