Mark Cuban is urging local governments to negotiate harder before approving data centers, saying towns should secure enforceable protections while they still have leverage.
In a series of X posts on Monday, the billionaire tech entrepreneur shared a 10-part playbook for communities considering their first project.
His basic rule: Every major promise from a developer should have a measurable limit, independent oversight, financial backing, and a practical remedy if it is broken.
# A town's first data center: what to require before saying yes
A data center can bring construction employment, tax base, and infrastructure investment. It can also impose demands on electricity, water, public services, and nearby neighborhoods that last for decades and outlive…
Cuban said towns should hire their own lawyers and technical advisors, assess the project's entire planned build-out, and impose clear limits on water consumption, noise, backup generation, and infrastructure costs.
He also called for upfront decommissioning funds and guarantees from financially credible parent companies.
Cuban paid particular attention to water use and noise, warning that "closed-loop" cooling systems can still consume water during hot weather and arguing that conventional noise limits may fail to capture the low-frequency hum produced by cooling equipment, which has become emblematic of many complaints about data centers.
## 5. Protect neighbors from noise before the equipment is ordered
Noise is now the most common post-approval complaint and the most active area of litigation, including proposed class actions in Wisconsin and Mississippi alleging sound carrying more than a mile past the…
Cuban also called for protection against stranded infrastructure costs if a project is delayed or abandoned. His proposals included upfront decommissioning funds, parent-company guarantees, and cash escrow or letters of credit before construction begins.
It's not Cuban's first warning about the data-center boom. In July, Cuban said communities should aggressively pursue operators who break the law or cause documented damage.
If the data center breaks the law or damages the community, the community should go after them with everything they have.
The AI companies need the data centers more than they need air. Take advantage of that fact. Tax the shit out of them if they do any documentable damage. https://t.co/OvaS6tr1zP
Later that month, he told the "All-In" podcast that technological advances could make some of today's computing capacity redundant, joking that unused data centers might become "pickleball courts."
Public opinion toward data centers is already dismal. A Gallup poll conducted in March found that 71% of Americans opposed having one built where they live, compared with 53% who opposed a nearby nuclear power plant.
The Environmental Health Project says data-center cooling systems and diesel generators can create a constant hum audible to nearby residents. The group also warns that their cooling needs can consume large amounts of water, worsening water insecurity in regions where supplies are already scarce.
The industry's image problem has become potent enough to sell beer. Former NFL star Jason Kelce recently starred in a satirical Garage Beer and Liquid Death ad asking people to send their urine to cool AI data centers — a campaign built around public concern over their water use.
Cuban described his latest framework as a work in progress and invited others to contribute. Its message was straightforward: Once a town grants approval, much of its negotiating power is gone.
Read next
Georgia is a Business News Fellow at Business Insider's London office.Before joining Business Insider, she worked at Japan's largest newspaper, The Yomiuri Shimbun, and interned at the Financial Times. She is an NCTJ-qualified journalist with a degree in Philosophy from the University of Birmingham.
