Nobody likes data centers and chips, chips, chips

This report delves into the burgeoning trend in Asia's tech landscape and its impact on U.S. manufacturing efforts. In Indiana, SK Hynix, a South Korean memory chip giant, is set to inaugurate its first advanced chip packaging plant in the U.S. by late 2028. The facility will assemble high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. Local residents have voiced concerns over noise and pollution, despite SK Hynix claiming these effects will be negligible. The economic benefits are expected to be substantial, with 7,000 jobs created in the region.

America's push to bring manufacturing back home, especially semiconductors, has left communities in a dilemma. They gain job opportunities but bear the environmental cost. Beyond Asia, the U.S. is also grappling with data center development. As the region's data center demand surged to 28 gigawatts in 2025, representing a third of the global total, concerns over electricity prices and potential pollution are rising.

Grassroots movements against data centers are emerging worldwide, pressuring developers to reconsider or prompting regulatory changes.

Beyond infrastructure concerns, AI's rapid advancements are reshaping industries. In China, AI-driven video generation tools are posing a significant threat to the short-drama industry, which employs 690,000 people directly. With AI-generated short dramas outnumbering human-produced ones, China risks losing thousands of jobs. Meanwhile, Google is ramping up its chip development, shifting from a two-year cycle to annual releases of AI chips, like TPUs, to maintain its competitive edge in the AI race.