Silicon Valley is losing the data center fight, risking a repeat of a classic failure

Silicon Valley has spent decades winning consumer loyalty. In unprecedented numbers, people have Apple iPhones in their pockets and Amazon Alexas on their counters while they browse on Google and write in Microsoft Word. Americans have shown themselves eager to try every new technology, from health tracking rings to doorbell cameras to robot vacuums.

Yet Silicon Valley has seemingly been caught flat-footed facing something it has never faced before: the near-united opposition of the American people.