The AI data center has been hit hard? 25% of the planned production capacity in Texas, USA, is subject to change, causing shock to the industry

Foreign media reported that during the U.S. midterm election voting, voters sent messages to artificial intelligence developers. (Reuters)

[Financial Channel/Comprehensive Report] Opponents of data centers were among the biggest winners from the Democratic landslide in the U.S. midterm elections, signaling a shift in public attitudes toward artificial intelligence that investors said could herald a slowdown in the boom driving U.S. economic growth and stock markets. Foreign media reported that the elected governor of Texas in the United States promised to stop building new data centers, a move that caused controversy in the industry.

Democratic Party member Gina. Gina Hinojosa defeated Republican incumbent Governor Greg Abbott in the gubernatorial election on the 3rd, promising to impose a complete moratorium on the issuance of new data center permits until the state Legislature passes laws to protect residents' rights and allow local communities to participate in development decisions. Since Texas is a major investment center for AI data centers in the United States, this policy may cause tens of billions of dollars in construction plans to face more uncertainty, adding variables to a quarter of the planned production capacity in the United States.

"Reuters" pointed out that Texas has become one of the fastest-growing data center regions in the world due to its abundant energy, relatively cheap land and pro-business policies. In the past two years, Meta, Google and Microsoft have all announced the construction of large-scale data centers in the local area. Goldman Sachs estimates that Texas accounts for about 25% of the nation's planned data center capacity; Jefferies estimates that it accounts for about 26%.

In fact, Texas began to restrict data center expansion before the election. On August 3, Abbott suspended the connection of new data centers to the power grid and required a comprehensive review of power demand, environmental impact and tax incentives for developers. The relevant review was originally expected to be completed by the end of 2026. However, Hinojosa advocated waiting for the state Legislature to complete legislation before resuming approval, which means that businesses may face a longer and unpredictable wait.

This wave of opposition is not limited to Texas. According to statistics from Ballotpedia, there were 41 local referendum bills related to data centers in the midterm elections. Except for one, the results were all in the direction of opposing data centers. NBC and SSRS exit polls showed that about 76% of voters across the United States opposed building new data centers near their residences; a University of Houston survey in October found that 79% of likely Texas voters supported limiting the number of data centers.

Reports pointed out that after a "blue wave" is confirmed in the U.S. midterm elections, U.S. data center developers will face the worst-case scenario. Not only is Congress likely to tighten regulations, but the governors of the two major data center centers of Ohio and Texas, as well as the data center construction hotspots of Georgia and Pennsylvania, are all won by Democrats who advocate strict control of data centers, which is a major negative for companies such as Meta, Amazon, and CoreWeave.

Mona Dajani, a partner at law firm Cooley, pointed out that waiting for a technical review and waiting for parliament to pass a new law are completely different risks for developers. Those who have purchased land, ordered equipment and committed to delivery dates still have to bear financing costs; large cloud companies are more capable of adjusting their investment layout, while small developers may be in trouble due to delays in a single project.

The industry has had mixed reactions. The Data Center Alliance said it will continue to work with state and local governments to promote construction. Alpha Compute CEO Brittany Kaiser believes that some companies may reconsider investments in Texas and Ohio. She emphasized that developers must communicate directly with governments and communities in the future, rather than just comply with regulations.