BlackRock CEO Larry Fink warned that suspending data center construction could lead to an economic slowdown.

Fink said in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday: "If there is some form of pause in this country, we will fall into recession." At that time, BlackRock had just announced better-than-expected third-quarter results earlier on Wednesday. Later in the morning on Wednesday, BlackRock's stock price rose by about 1%.

Fink added, "A large part of our economy is built on such capital expenditures." He was referring to the large-scale investments made in developing artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Fink's warning comes at a time when strong local opposition to data center construction has become a key issue in the mid-term elections on November 3rd. Local communities are troubled by rising utility costs, water usage, environmental damage, and doubts about the transparency of investments.

Although Fink acknowledges concerns about the expansion of data centers from the outside world, he also pointed out that "most of it is misleading information."

The associated risks are not insignificant. Wall Street analysts estimate that by 2027, total capital expenditures on artificial intelligence could exceed $1 trillion, and by 2030, the cumulative amount will surpass $5 trillion.

"Data centers are not the problem. They are creating more new jobs than ever before," explained this BlackRock CEO. He stated that such investment scales have led to a demand for construction workers, physical digital infrastructure, AI computing hardware, as well as energy infrastructure to ensure power supply to the grid.