Meta executive: Midterm election backlash may make data center construction harder

1. 11:51
   Hacker News AI

   Meta Warns Midterm Backlash Threatens AI Data Centers

   Meta executives said Democratic gains in the US midterms will make new data center construction significantly harder, while Goldman Sachs estimated that state and local moratoriums could put roughly 45% of planned US data center capacity at risk. Meta President Dina Powell McCormick said the industry has "not done as good a job as we needed to explain the benefits of these investments," and Goldman noted that "capacity at risk is not capacity cancelled." Hyperscalers rallied after the election while smaller operators such as IREN, Hut 8, Applied Digital and Core Scientific fell between 5.2% and 10% on November 4.

2. 03:12
   TechCrunch · AI

   Meta warns that election backlash against data centers could make AI expansion harder

   Meta President Dina Powell McCormick said at the WSJ Tech conference that Democratic midterm wins will make it harder for companies to build data centers, and that the industry has not done enough to explain the benefits of these investments. She said backlash against data centers is tied to how people feel about AI overall, and that Meta aims to demonstrate value to local communities through measures like paying for its own electricity and directing tax surpluses to teachers and first responders. Meta has data centers in 23 states, five planned at one gigawatt or more, and expects more project review going forward, while saying it receives daily calls to lease its compute.

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