What explains the reduced local resistance? Do Malaysian residents simply have less political power, or do Malaysian datacenters somehow solve the technical challenges that beget resistance in home countries?
https://www.economist.com/international/2026/10/22/the-surpr...
It's very expensive in the US to connect a new large data center to the grid - not just in money, but in time, so AI companies power them with gas turbines which really suck to live next to.
In these countries, it is much easier to build out the grid, so datacenters bring far fewer downsides while still being as profitable as they'd be in the US.
It doesn't hurt that local control over development is much weaker outside the Anglosphere.
Given the globally relevant character of AI, I would be very surprised if all the anti-AI sentiment on English language social networks was organic.