Trump’s comments serve to reinforce support for an AI industry that was widely rebuked by voters in Tuesday’s elections. According to Ballotpedia, Americans voted to limit the construction of data center facilities in 46 of 50 ballot initiatives. About 17 of them amounted to outright bans, and results are still pending on three initiatives. Democratic candidates for governor in Texas, Ohio, and Georgia also won on pledges to impose new guardrails around data centers. The role of data centers in jacking up utility bills contributed greatly to voters’ opposition to them.
AI and chip company shares have fared poorly in the aftermath of the election. The tech-heavy Nasdaq index was up 264 points at Friday market close, a modest 1% gain after brutal losses that wiped out $2.5 trillion in value on Thursday.
Nvidia, Intel and Micron are all chipmaking companies badly hit in the sell-off, which sent the Nasdaq collapsing into correction territory as it dropped 11% below its recent peak.
‘We respect the localities’
White House aides joined Trump in emphasizing support for an industry that’s had an outsized role in propping up the U.S. economy against a string of shocks, such as tariffs and spiking gas prices from the war in Iran. They argue communities that continue encouraging data center construction will be rewarded economically through larger job growth compared to those who shut them out.
“America is a big place, and right now the data centers scheduled over the next couple of years aren’t affected by these ballot initiatives,” White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNBC. “There’s plenty of room in the U.S. for data center growth to continue as it was projected ahead of the election.”
“We respect the localities that decide that’s what they want to do,” Hassett said.
Earlier this year, the White House enlisted seven prominent hyperscalers — Amazon, Google and Meta among them — to sign onto a non-binding pledge to shield ratepayers from price increases. In addition, the administration has streamlined the environmental review process and repurposed some federal lands to pave the way for more data centers.
How AI giants are responding
AI companies were already attempting to assuage voters’ concerns with data center construction projects before the election. Some have begun rebranding them entirely.
OpenAI — the maker of ChatGPT— is relabeling the sprawling facilities as “AI compute campuses.” On Thursday, the company published a new “National Community Compact” that included a list of promises for communities.
Among them: ensuring that residents aren’t “footing the bill” for new demand on antiquated power grids, designating a local point of contact for concerns to be addressed, publishing construction plans ahead of time, and setting up local labor hiring goals.
Joseph Zeballos-Roig is a policy and politics journalist based in Washington D.C with a focus on economics. He is experienced in connecting the significance of events in the capital to the lives of everyday Americans whether its taxes, tariffs, interest rates or federal programs.
