Voters’ data center rebuke hits some tech companies harder than others
Semafor · J.D. Capelouto, Ashley Gold ·
Anti-data center measures passed in the US midterms could carry financial consequences for tech giants.
The News
In Piqua, Ohio, voters on Tuesday approved a ban on large data centers and recalled the commissioners who backed Meta’s massive project there. In Trenton, less than 50 miles south, a similar ban passed. And outside Columbus, the heart of Ohio’s data center boom, voters in Ashville repealed the village’s deal with developer EdgeConneX.
These Ohio races were part of a swell of anti-data-center sentiment that echoed across the country in dozens of ballot measures concerning bans, moratoriums, or stricter regulations and oversight. The votes were hyperlocal and often emotional in nature, but they could carry financial consequences, because some of the projects at stake were already in motion.