--- title: Voters Turned on AI Data Centres in the Midterms, and Goldman Sachs Says 45% of Planned US Capacity Is Now at Risk description: Goldman Sachs says 45% of planned US data center capacity is at risk after the 2026 midterms. Which states, which stocks fell, and what comes next. author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief) date: 2026-11-05T09:00:00.444Z updated: 2026-11-05T09:00:00.468Z canonical: https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/data-center-moratorium-midterms-ai image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-5480781.webp categories: Business, Tech News content_type: News region: United States publication: Rich Man Magazine --- Americans who did not want an AI data centre next door got their say on Tuesday 3rd November, and they used it. [Reuters reports](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-midterm-drubbing-demonstrates-power-data-centre-opponents-2026-11-04/) that opponents of data centres were among the biggest winners of the Democrats' sweep of the US midterm elections. In Texas and Georgia, Democrats who campaigned partly on a moratorium on new data centre development won governorships their party had not held for decades. Investors read the result as a warning for the building boom behind artificial intelligence, which has driven a large share of US economic growth and stock market gains this year. Goldman Sachs estimates that the Democratic wins in the statehouses of Texas, Michigan and Georgia could put roughly 45% of planned US data centre capacity at risk, through construction moratoriums, tighter rules and smaller tax incentives. ## Data Centre Shares Fell While the Market Rallied The wider market celebrated the result. By late morning in New York on Wednesday 4th November, [the Associated Press reported](https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1,325 points, or 2.6%, and the S&P 500 had risen 1.5%. Oil company shares fell as crude prices dropped, while solar and wind companies gained. The companies that build and power data centres went the other way. According to Reuters, Core Scientific fell 11.6% and Iren dropped 12.5%. Applied Digital, Hut 8 and Cipher Digital also slumped, along with power companies GE Vernova, Constellation Energy and Vistra, which have sold investors on the electricity that AI will need. In Asia, chip and AI companies including TSMC, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Kioxia fell. ## Texas Holds About a Quarter of the Data Centres Coming Online Texas delivered the biggest surprise. GLJ Research estimates that the state accounts for [about a quarter of the US data centre capacity](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/texas-data-center-interconnection-pause-audit) due to come online by 2030. On Tuesday, Democrat Gina Hinojosa defeated Governor Greg Abbott, ending three decades of Republican control of the office, and Democrat James Talarico won the state's Senate seat. Texas has spent years selling itself as a technology hub, and it attracted companies such as SpaceX and entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk. Reuters reports that Musk gave more than $150 million to Ken Paxton, the Republican who lost to Talarico. After the result, Musk posted that data centres in space were starting to look appealing. Opposition to data centres crossed party lines. Republican voters also turned against projects that, their critics say, [push up utility bills](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/political-risk-of-ai-data-center-buildout), light up the night sky and create too few jobs and too little tax revenue to justify the incentives states pay to attract them. ## Georgia and Ohio Data Centre Projects Face Delays In Georgia, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms won the governor's race and ended more than two decades of Republican control. Property firm CBRE ranks Atlanta as [the most active data centre construction market](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/georgia-openai-data-center-power-bill-savings) in the United States. Ohio is the third state investors are watching. Analysts at Morgan Stanley say the election of Democrat Amy Acton as governor creates a significant risk of delays to data centre projects there, including a 10-gigawatt project involving Nvidia, the largest in the state. Ohio had already paused new requests for data centre tax exemptions earlier this year. A data centre moratorium is a temporary halt, usually on new approvals or construction, while a state or local government decides what rules to set. Searches for the term in the United States have risen more than fivefold over the past three months, and many people are looking up their own state, from New York to Ohio and Virginia. ## Wall Street Is Split on How Far the AI Slowdown Goes Aidan Yao, a senior investment strategist at the Amundi Investment Institute, told Reuters that he saw the election as more a referendum on AI than on President Donald Trump. He argued that restrictions on AI would make the outlook for the US economy, inflation and interest rates much harder to read. HSBC analysts Max Kettner and Duncan Toms think broad bans are not the only possible outcome. They see two other scenarios: more regulation and closer oversight of data centres, or developers moving projects out of Texas to other states. Some investors see the sell-off as overdone. Tommaso Leodari, chief investment officer of the Dubai-based hedge fund Index & Cie, said he did not expect limits or higher taxes on an industry he regards as central to America's competition with China. Several analysts told Reuters that slower building in the United States does not mean weaker demand for AI or computing power, and some see the Nasdaq's fall of about 8% over the past month as a chance to buy. ## What the Data Centre Vote Means for Your Portfolio If you hold an index fund that tracks the S&P 500 or the Nasdaq, you own a large slice of the companies paying for these data centres, and of the chipmakers and power firms that supply them. The midterm result does not cancel the projects already under construction, but it gives new governors in some of the biggest data centre states the power to slow the next wave. Decisions on zoning, tax breaks and power contracts are made by states, counties and utility commissions rather than by Congress. That is why investors spent Wednesday studying governors' races as closely as the fight for the House and the Senate. Rich Man is not a financial adviser, and the right move for your money depends on your own circumstances. Further reading: [Data Centres Became a Midterm Issue After Most Americans Said No to One Next Door](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/data-centres-midterms-voters) and [Democrats Win the House and Senate as American Men Course Correct History](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/democrats-win-congress-how-men-voted). ## FAQ **Q: What is a data centre moratorium?** A data centre moratorium is a temporary ban on approving or building new data centres in a city, county or state. Governments use it to pause development while they study the effects on electricity prices, water supply, land use and tax revenue, and to write rules that new projects must follow. A moratorium usually has an end date, and projects already approved or under construction are often allowed to continue. **Q: What is a hyperscale data centre?** A hyperscale data centre is a very large facility built to run cloud computing and artificial intelligence services for companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Meta. These sites hold tens of thousands of servers, can cover hundreds of thousands of square feet and draw as much electricity as a small city. Their scale is why they need major investment in power plants, transmission lines and cooling.