U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday publicly criticized tech giants at an event hosted by the Economic Club of Charlotte in North Carolina, accusing them of failing to effectively win public support amidst the massive expansion of AI infrastructure, thereby exacerbating the nationwide backlash against data center construction. He stated bluntly that the AI industry has "done a terrible job explaining itself" and gave these companies a D- grade. Bessent noted that data center construction has driven up utility costs and expenses for high-bandwidth memory, among other things, leading to widespread community dissatisfaction. However, he reiterated that his long-term assessment of the value of AI investment for boosting U.S. productivity remains unchanged.