Meta warns data center opposition could hinder AI investment

TechCrunch reported that Meta warned growing political opposition to data centers could threaten future AI investments.[1] At the WSJ Tech conference on Wednesday, Powell McCormick said Meta was more optimistic about scaling up its existing data centers.[2] Gizmodo reported that Meta is trying to build multiple large data centers, and that a speaker said the company would invest hundreds of billions of dollars into compute to build superintelligence.[3] The planned Hyperion data center is in Louisiana, while Prometheus is planned for Ohio.[3]

The Wall Street Journal reported that getting data centers built would be harder after the midterm elections, though the difficulty might be less severe than it currently appears.[2] Gizmodo reported that starting new U.S. data center build-outs would be very challenging and that every hyperscaler was considering whether to build outside the country.[3] The governors-elect of Texas and Ohio support some form of moratorium on data center construction.[3] A speaker proposed meeting after the inauguration to avoid losing the investment and jobs from their town.[3] The reporting presents a distinction between expanding existing capacity and starting new projects.[2][3]

Voters in 10 states backed restrictions or rejected proposals to develop data centers in their neighborhoods.[4] Redbud Consulting’s tracking found that all but one of 41 data-center ballot measures restricted establishment.[4] In most counties where those measures appeared, voters also shifted strongly toward Democrats.[4] Shares of AI- and data-center-related companies fell in the days after the elections amid expectations of tighter oversight from a Democrat-led Congress.[4] Those market moves reflect expectations reported at the time; the evidence does not show that new oversight had already been enacted.[4]