Jun 1, 2026
Kevin O’Leary is crying foul on detractors of his colossal new data center project, claiming foreign interference — specifically, that a proportion of the culprits behind the “PR war” targeting its buildout are, he claims, associated with the Chinese government.
In a recent video shared across his social media accounts, the “Shark Tank”and “Marty Supreme” star said he believes China is trying to stymie the US’s AI capabilities. O’Leary claimed he received “tens of thousands” more Instagram and X messages than normal about the project starting in early May, so he had his team investigate where the sudden uptick of commotion was coming from. He said they noticed traction coming from some of the same IP addresses, along with bot activity and “nefarious accounts from out of the country” that were “dumping stuff that’s completely false about Utah.”
Alleged Chinese connection
O’Leary says data scientists have been able to trace some profiles back to organizations such as the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the People’s Dispatch, which he says are “under investigation by multiple branches of Congress.” He claims they also drew connections between some of the social media accounts and “multiple entities all over the world” that they say are part of a network led by Neville Roy Singham. Singham, for the uninitiated, funds various far-left non-profits and think tanks with alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Congressman Nathaniel Moran says these groups, and others, have “effectively co-opted domestic activism to push anti-American and pro-CCP talking points.”
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Moran spoke at a February hearing for the US House Ways and Means Committee’s ongoing investigation into “the money trail between foreign actors and tax-exempt organizations that have been fueling antisemitism, interfering in our elections, and spreading foreign government propaganda.”
O’Leary, citing public IRS tax filings, seems to be asserting that arms of Singham’s Shanghai-based network — and by extension, the CCP — have launched a calculated endeavour to sabotage America’s ability to compete with China in the AI space.
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“It’s not just Utah,” O’Leary said. “These guys are doing campaigns everywhere there’s a proposed increase in power and/or a data center.”
When asked directly if he was suggesting that organizations are using Chinese government funds to run a digital “PR war” against his data center, O’Leary was firm in his stance. “I’m not suggesting it,” he said, pointing to the data he uncovered. “It’s an irrefutable fact.”
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Bringing a conspiracy to light, or deflecting public scrutiny?
This isn’t the first time O’Leary has used China as an argument for his impending data center, which will cost $100 billion and take up about three times the acreage of Manhattan. His impetus to build it and champion others like it comes, as he says, a “need to compete with China.”
“We need AI computing power and so where do you put that? You put that in AI data centers,” he said.
O’Leary has already publicly accused co-founders of one company, Utah-based political consulting firm Elevate Strategies, of potentially being “proxies for the Chinese government.”
As scandalous as such claims have been, it’s hard to definitively say that O’Leary is simply trying to delegitimize very documented public opposition to the Utah development. CPP’s proclivity to try and meddle in American politics and discourse is likewise well-documented, as are similar efforts by other countries and foreign groups, which many residents were quick to point out in replies to his post.
The crux of the matter here is balancing the US’s economic and political need to remain competitive on the AI front with the unignorable consequences that such facilities have on the everyday lives of the public. From hogging water and electricity at levels that experts say could cause future crises to negatively impacting quality of life, property values and, with centers’ end product, our intelligence and jobs. Seven of 10 respondents to a recent Gallup poll expressed opposition to a data center in their area.
As for the AI campus slated for Utah’s Box Elder County, a resident-led application for referendum was rejected on May 29.
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Becky Robertson is a senior staff reporter at Moneywise and a lifelong writer. Along with more than a decade covering news at outlets like blogTO and Quill & Quire, she's attended writing residencies around the world. With 33 countries visited, she finds travel to be among her greatest inspirations.
