Kevin O’Leary, the television personality and investor known as “Mr. Wonderful” on “Shark Tank,” has accused the Chinese government of orchestrating a propaganda campaign against his natural-gas and data-center development in Utah’s Hansel Valley. O’Leary said on social media and in cable-news appearances that local opponents are part of a coordinated effort by the Chinese Communist Party to slow U.S. progress in artificial intelligence. He has not provided conclusive evidence for the allegations, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The project, covering thousands of acres in Box Elder County, has drawn furious pushback from residents and environmental activists concerned about its impact on the shrinking Great Salt Lake and on local electricity supplies. O’Leary has said the development will return energy to the grid, create thousands of jobs and generate millions of dollars in tax revenue without harming the water supply.
O’Leary hired an international research team to investigate social-media posts critical of the project, he told the Journal. He said that he found several Utah organizations and individuals with funding tied to foreign entities, including China, and that he passed the information to federal law enforcement.
Among the groups O’Leary named were Elevate Strategies and Alliance for a Better Utah, which he described as foreign-funded “cells” acting as proxies for China. He alleged they received money through a now-defunct philanthropy manager called Arabella, which he said was funded by the Chinese. The groups’ co-founders denied the allegations. “We’re not accusing each other of crimes like being a Chinese agent,” said Jackie Morgan, a co-founder of Elevate Strategies.
Caroline Gleich, an environmental activist in Park City who has posted videos about the project’s threat to the Great Salt Lake, said O’Leary’s accusations are already backfiring. “It’s really insulting to us,” Gleich said. “The one thing he is succeeding at is uniting Utahns.”
O’Leary has already scaled back his initial plans. After a request from the president of the Utah state Senate, he reduced the total size of the project to about 20,000 acres from the 40,000 acres he proposed in April. He did not reduce the scope of the natural-gas plant and data center, which he has said could grow to 9 gigawatts of power capacity — enough to power more than six million homes. The first phase is 1.5 gigawatts, O’Leary said.
The project has yet to obtain financing or a hyperscale AI partner, the Journal reported.
A statewide poll found 53% of Utahns oppose the data center, with 41% describing themselves as strongly opposed. Only 11% said they were strongly supportive.
O’Leary’s approach stands in contrast to other data-center developers facing similar backlash. More than 90 local governments across the U.S. have enacted or are considering measures to limit data-center construction. Microsoft recently unveiled its Community-First AI Infrastructure initiative, pledging to cover electrical costs, replenish local water sources and pay its full share of local taxes.
In the U.S. House, a group of Republicans this month wrote a letter to the White House asking the administration to brief Congress on investigations of foreign-influence campaigns related to AI development. O’Leary is not the only person raising the possibility of foreign interference in the data-center debate.
The O’Leary project is in the preconstruction phase. A spokeswoman for O’Leary did not respond to requests for comment from the Journal.