However, Heather West from the Eurasia Group consultancy said temporary bans on construction and new regulations might delay the data centre roll out, but would not stop it entirely.
She said “projects already permitted or under construction will largely proceed”, but delays would affect the “next wave” of building through “local fights, slower permitting, and pressure to make data centres pay for their own power”.
Analysts from the consultancy Oxford Economics have said there are also strong economic incentives for politicians to avoid policies that would severely disrupt data centre construction, pointing to tax revenue and construction jobs they bring.
Deepak Surana of the Futurum Group, a technology research firm, said he expected there would ultimately be “a negotiation, not a moratorium” from Texas state leaders on data centres to ensure no negative impact on residents’ energy and water bills.
OpenAI, which has a data centre in Texas and under-construction projects in Ohio, pledged to ensure it fully paid for its own electricity on Thursday, external – one day after the midterm results.
Additional reporting by Nicholas Barrett
