AI infrastructure boom faces "global containment": construction restrictions cross Atlantic China Welding Consumables, Inc., Microsoft Corporation (MSFT.US) Amsterdam project becomes the eye of the storm

Title context: AI infrastructure boom faces "global containment": construction restrictions cross the Atlantic, Microsoft Corporation (MSFT.US) Amsterdam project becomes the eye of the storm Text: The "construction restriction wave" against AI data centers set off by the US midterm elections is spreading across the Atlantic from the United States to Europe. On Friday local time, a group of protesters broke into a Microsoft Corporation (MSFT.US) data center construction site in Amsterdam, kicking off two days of rallies. This is part of a growing wave of resistance worldwide to the rapid expansion of computing power needed for AI. According to the "Stop Dirty Data Centres" coalition, activist groups have announced actions in 16 countries on Friday and Saturday. The coalition brings together environmental organizations and digital rights movements to jointly call for a moratorium on large-scale construction. It is said that on Friday in Amsterdam, more than 100 activists gathered at a Microsoft Corporation AI data center construction site, marching arm in arm, then broke into the site, climbed onto construction cranes, hung balloons and danced on the site while police watched. Some demonstrators held signs reading: "Tear down your data center." The site owner Pure Data Centres plans to invest more than US$1 billion, backed by Oaktree Capital under Bruker Corporation's Feld. The company said it is committed to communicating with local stakeholders. "We kindly ask those on site to leave safely and to engage with us in dialogue about this project and the issues everyone is concerned about," the company said. Other planned protests include a march in Dublin, a demonstration outside the parliament building in Warsaw, and another protest in Denmark targeting a Microsoft Corporation data center. Microsoft Corporation said it understands that the public has strong opinions about the project, respects everyone's right to express their demands peacefully, but does not support any illegal acts. Market fears of tighter AI regulation, tech stocks sold off From Spain to India to the United States, the wave of resistance continues to grow. Affected by market fears that US Democrats controlling Congress may introduce stricter regulation and suppress the AI development boom, US tech stocks fell sharply on Thursday. Senator Bernie Sanders' earlier proposal for a "national moratorium on new data center construction," and the explicit commitment by the governor-elect of Texasone of the most important AI data center hubs in the United Statesto pause approvals for new projects, jointly triggered this "reckoning-style" selloff across the AI supply chain. Protesters argue that data centers will intensify pressure on electricity and water resources, compete with housing and other industries for scarce resources, and drag down the achievement of climate goals; at the same time, they also bring the risk of job losses, and large tech companies' concentrated control of computing power may also pose risks to individuals and national security. Tech companies respond that data centers are the core vehicle for meeting global AI and cloud computing demand and are critical infrastructure for enterprises, governments and ordinary consumers. The "Stop Dirty Data Centres" coalition stressed that they are not opposed to technological progress and are not demanding the shutdown of existing data centers, but only advocate delaying new large-scale projects until countries introduce clear regulatory rules. In this regard, Europe's internal stance is contradictory: on the one hand, it wants to catch up with the AI development pace of the United States and Asia and boost productivity; on the other hand, it must maintain relatively strict regulation and public protection mechanisms. EU digital affairs chief Henna Virkkunen said in an interview on Thursday that Europe needs more data centers to support AI development, but construction must proceed prudently. "AI is undoubtedly a crucial technology, and we must have our own computing power capacity." Virkkunen mentioned that Europe is stepping up chip manufacturing and investment in AI startups, and plans to establish a number of large computing plants in the region. But she added: "One point is crucial for the publiceveryone must be confident that electricity bills will not soar because of data centers, that power outages will not be caused by computing facilities, and that such projects must not damage the environment." It is understood that Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOGL.US)'s project in Finland has been placed under criminal investigation over land clearing issues; Italy and Portugal are tightening environmental regulations for data centers; Microsoft Corporation previously also withdrew from a data center project in the United Kingdom that was delayed by infrastructure problems. The Netherlands currently has about 200 data centers in planning, under construction or in operation.