(Washington Times) A China-based American tycoon is funding a Beijing-backed influence campaign in the U.S. to block construction of large computer data centers, according to a new think tank report.
Neville Roy Singham, who lives in Shanghai, is funneling millions of dollars to the U.S. communist group Party for Socialism and Liberation to support the influence effort, according to a report by the Bitcoin Policy Institute made public Tuesday.
China is fomenting public unrest in the U.S. against the building of artificial intelligence and the data centers fueling the technology, the report said.
Protests against the warehouse-sized data centers being built around the country amid concerns about the use of large amounts of electricity and water are legitimate and normal, the report said.
“But running parallel to this domestic, democratic movement is a foreign influence campaign that has worked to amplify public division and opposition to American AI infrastructure,” the report said.
Singham, a Connecticut-born tech entrepreneur who sold his company and moved to Shanghai, is a leader of the anti-data-center movement.
Investigators describe Singham as a Marxist who is one of the largest private funders of left-wing political organizing in the U.S.
