Voters Reject AI Data Centers

It's Benzinga, bringing Wall Street to Main Street. The artificial intelligence data center boom faced a major setback in Tuesday's midterm elections, according to CNBC. Voters backed restrictions on data center construction in 40 of 41 local ballot measures across 10 states. Ohio accounted for 21 measures and elected Democrat Amy Acton as governor. Acton supports a conditional moratorium on data centers, requiring developers to cover utility costs and use union labor. SoftBank and SB Energy are developing an Ohio data center campus with the Department of Energy, backed by NVIDIA, in a project that could cost more than $500 billion. Democrats who campaigned on restricting new data center projects won key races in Ohio, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Texas. A CNBC voter poll found 56% of voters considered data centers a crucial or major factor in their decisions. The results complicate the tech industry's expansion plans as companies spend hundreds of billions of dollars annually on AI infrastructure. For all things money, visit Benzinga.com.