A pause in US data center construction could lead to a recession, the CEO of investment firm BlackRock has suggested.

In comments to CNBC, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink warned that a countrywide moratorium in the US will lead to a recession, with so much of the economy based on the buildout of the massive investments over the past few years in AI infrastructure.

Real estate services firm JLL said that forecasted data center capacity through 2030 will require $3 trillion in total investment. Demand remains high, with 97 percent global occupancy and 77 percent of the construction pipeline pre-committed to tenants, according to JLL.

In the US alone, competition for data center capacity is fierce, with demand now five times what it was two years ago and vacancy rates at one percent for three years in a row.

JLL says there remains clear investor confidence in the industry, with development accelerating to meet demand growth.

However, the US is also seeing significant opposition to data centers from local communities, government officials, and media. Multiple data center moratoriums are being considered or implemented up and down the country. Of those implemented, the shortest lasted just a week, and the longest will stretch up to a year and a half.

Even traditionally data center-friendly jurisdictions, are looking into the effects of data centers on the local area, with the state’s data center corridor, Loudoun County, voting to block new applications for facilities last month.

During the interview with CNBC, BlackRock’s Fink said that increasing opposition to data centers is mostly “misinformation,” arguing that data centers are creating “more new jobs than ever before.”

Moratoriums are just one log on the fire, however. There are significant issues that could lead to a delayed buildout of data centers in the US. Discussions around energy costs and grid upgrades, for example, have dominated discourse in the US and are far from finished.

The industry’s explosive growth has also led to shortages in the supply of equipment, raw materials, and labor, which are leading to delays in project delivery globally.