AI isn’t just a technology story anymore. What used to be a niche conversation among engineers and investors is now being debated at the dinner table. Your customers, your board, and your grandma all have opinions not only about AI but also about data centers and the surrounding network of resources that enable it.
Now, AI is an infrastructure story with far-reaching impacts. INK’s latest media analysis report found that the data center conversation has shifted from What can AI do? to Can society support the resources needed to power AI at scale? Mentions of ‘infrastructure’ in tech-focused publications increased 172% year over year, while ‘capacity’ mentions increased by over 100% across media types.
At INK, we work across B2B tech and energy, and as the AI data center narrative evolves, we’re seeing a clear convergence between the two sectors. Without energy, AI computing can’t scale. Without tech investment, the grid can’t keep up with data center demand.
Technology and energy companies are navigating merging storylines and, as a result, interconnected communications challenges.
Data Center Conversations: Most-Used Terms in Media
AI Has Made Tech and Energy Inseparable, Putting New Pressure on Both
The demands of AI are pulling both tech and energy companies into unfamiliar territory, and neither sector fully understands the other’s world. From our vantage point, we’re seeing two industries that operated in parallel for years become deeply interdependent, but they haven’t fully developed a shared language or playbook.
For tech companies, building AI data centers is nothing like scaling up a cloud environment. It’s a physical infrastructure challenge that requires land, permitting, specialized construction labor, and access to an electricity grid that operates on a highly regulated and often backlogged timeline.
For energy companies, the challenge is equally new. Power infrastructure has always moved at the speed of permits, regulatory scrutiny, and long-term planning cycles. Now it’s being asked to keep pace with hyperscalers that move at the speed of capital with a need for power that is larger, more volatile, and less predictable than anything the grid was designed to support.
With More Stakeholders Come Higher Stakes
The AI and data center boom has also expanded the stakeholder map for tech and energy companies, creating the need for more nuanced and tailored communications strategies. Companies now face a wider, more polarized set of audiences with different concerns and levels of technical understanding, from state regulators and city councils to trade organizations and system engineers.
Communities are the clearest example. Local opposition to data centers related to water and land use, power costs, and lack of transparency is sparking protests and project cancellations and moratoriums across the country. Our data center media analysis found local news coverage has surged 186% year over year, significantly outpacing national coverage. Overall negative sentiment has also climbed more than 10 percentage points, driven by that local news spike.
It’s not only hyperscalers and data center developers that need to take these stakeholders into account in their communications. Companies that sit within the AI data center ecosystem—energy technology providers, chip suppliers, network and fiber companies—may not be in article headlines, but they are close enough to influence the story.
Data Center Conversations: Volume by Media Type
A Framework for Comms Leaders Navigating the AI and Data Center Boom
Finding your place in the AI data center story is feasible with the right foundation. Based on INK’s work with companies across both tech and energy sectors, here are four important steps for communications leaders building their strategy.
1. Know where you sit in the value chain and define your narrative lane from there.
The AI data center story has an early chapter (power generation and transmission, physical construction, chips and hardware), a middle chapter (network and fiber, data movement, power management), and a later one (cloud software, AI services). Your position determines which conversations you can credibly lead and which to stay out of. The companies that break through with their communications are illustrating how their piece of the puzzle addresses a constraint or challenge others haven’t solved, from water and grid capacity to permitting speed or community trust. They are backing up their message with hard proof and progress, not intangible ideas.
2. Once you know your lane, rebuild your stakeholder map to match.
List every audience with a stake in your piece of this story, including those who haven’t come knocking yet. And with 71% of Americans opposed to AI data center construction, you can assume the local community audience is on that list. Do you have messages for each group? The right channels to reach them? Spokespeople who can credibly engage with them? Any gaps should be your highest-priority communications investments.
3. Before you can communicate externally, get internal alignment.
Companies get caught flat-footed if they’re not aligned on a position. Get your leadership team in a room, and pin down answers to questions like: What do we say when asked whether AI is good for consumers? What’s our position on local community impact? What are we willing to commit to publicly? The companies that have had this conversation can respond quickly and consistently and work those messages into a comms strategy that truly benefits their business.
4. Once you know what you’re saying and who you’re saying it to, match your message to your channel.
Not every message belongs in a press release or on social media. Some of the most important conversations in this space are happening in policy forums, community meetings, regulatory comment periods, and investor briefings. Decide where a message needs to land before deciding how to say it. And remember, there may be conversations that you want to influence, but it’s not your place to lead them or enter them directly. In those instances, consider other resources you can collaborate with—trade organizations, partners, customers—to speak up when it makes more sense for you to play a supporting role.
Don’t React to a Story You Could Have Written
The narrative around AI tech and energy is already forming, and most companies are in a reactive posture. The good news is that the playbook is still being developed. Whether you come from the energy side or the tech side, there’s still room to proactively own a differentiated position, but it requires treating this as one big, interconnected story. Lead with specifics, ground your claims in measurable impact, have a community story ready, and make sure your internal house is in order before an external pressure forces your hand.
INK has spent years building expertise on both sides of this convergence. If you’re ready to think through what it means for your communications strategy, let’s talk.
