Several newly elected Democrats and Senator Bernie Sanders have renewed calls for a moratorium on data centres days after the US mid-term elections. A significant Democratic victory has given added momentum to efforts to slow the construction of these controversial facilities, which are worth more than a trillion dollars.
On social media platform X, Sanders posted a call for an urgent national moratorium on data centres this week. On Wednesday, he stated: "Americans do not want the oligarchs of big tech companies to destroy the environment, eliminate jobs and threaten the future of humanity." Sanders was joined by numerous Democrats, including Arizona Representative Yassamin Ansari.
In Arizona, Elon Musk’s SpaceX has proposed a data centre project spanning more than 700 hectares. Ansari wrote on X on Wednesday: "At the top of the Democratic agenda on day one must be a pause in the development of advanced artificial intelligence, regulation of this industry which has escaped control and a ban on artificial superintelligence." Musk mocked her post in a retweet, and the two clashed, with Ansari predicting congressional hearings and telling the centimillionaire: "See you soon."
Opposition to data centre construction was one of the most visible issues in the mid-term elections. Resistance to data centres strongly marked campaigns across the United States. Voters approved dozens of local measures attempting to limit data centre projects in their states. Meta Platforms President Dina Powell McCormick told the Wall Street Journal that construction of data centres will be "harder" following the vote.
After Elon Musk spent nearly half a billion dollars supporting Republican candidates and attacking Democrats on his social media platform, he jokingly posted on election night that "data centres in space are currently quite attractive". Post-election jitters helped trigger a massive sell-off of AI stocks this week as tech investors worry about new regulations such as data centre pauses. White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNBC that ballot initiatives will largely not affect existing projects.
In New Hampshire, Senator-elect Chris Pappas praised his voters for "opposing big data centres that harm our communities". New Mexico Congressman Gabe Vasquez declared that it is "time to stop the class of AI billionaires from imposing data centres on our community". Ohio Senator-elect Sherrod Brown said to applause: "I do not work for data centres. I work for you. I work for Ohio." Newly elected governors in several key states for data centre construction, including Texas and Georgia, have also called for data centre moratoriums. Newly elected Texas Governor Gina Hinojosa promised to stop new data centre projects until new protective measures are established. Hinojosa told CNN this week: "There are no rules and laws that protect Texans, and Texans are being exploited. We must stop what we are doing with data centres until we get those protections."
