The Verge Roundup of Latest AI Data Center Developments: Election Opposition, Permitting Bills, and Community Controversy

Massive new data centers are the physical foundation for tech companies’ hopes and dreams for AI. But the rush to expand warehouses full of energy-hungry servers has also kicked up fights across the world over their impact on power grids, utility bills, nearby communities, and the environment.

Data centers were a major bipartisan issue ahead of the 2026 midterms , and voters largely opposed data center expansion at the polls. Tech giants like OpenAI and Amazon are promising to work more closely with local communities and cover their data center energy costs. But following the election, Democratic leaders are calling for further data center restrictions and slowdowns that the AI companies will have to grapple with.

From audacious plans about data centers into space , heated local battles over buildouts , and potential environmental impacts , here’s The Verge ’s news, coverage, and reporting surrounding data centers and the companies that are building them.

A massive permitting bill that could help energy projects come online much quicker and potentially lower utility bills for Americans is advancing with bipartisan support. And while it could be a catalyst for lots of clean energy, it could also speed up polluting projects and limit oversight of new data centers.

With data centers demanding more electricity for AI, environmental advocates fear that developers could take advantage of the reforms to evade public scrutiny and rely more heavily on fossil fuels. The bill sacrifices caution for speed, limiting environmental reviews and preventing communities from stopping a project from moving forward by taking it to court.

The comments, made in an interview with Yahoo Finance , come after the chipmaker reported its “largest and most profitable” quarter in history. Su expects AMD’s data center business to grow 50 percent from Q3 to Q4, calling the growth a “testament to how important computing is” to the AI boom.

Following this week’s midterms where voters resoundingly voiced their opposition to data center expansion , OpenAI today announced new commitments to communities where it is working on data center projects, including that it won’t use non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with public officials.

Many data center projects have come under scrutiny for relying on NDAs to hide discussions between developers and local officials. However, OpenAI says it is now allowing “only narrow protections covering legitimate security information, trade secrets, or proprietary or competitively sensitive information.” In October, Amazon announced it would no longer use NDAs with government agencies it works with on data center projects.

AI data center projects are continuing to pop up across the US, with frequent opposition from locals concerned about their impact. Here are a few recent articles about the projects:

Data center developers are poised to face a more restrictive building environment after voters across the country voted in candidates who favor moratoriums and ballot measures that put more obstacles on their expansion, delivering a stinging blow to a central pillar of the AI industry.

Of voters polled by NBC News on Election Day, 76 percent said they opposed data centers in their communities. Dozens of local communities voted directly to restrict development through ballot measures . And upset winners like Texas Democratic Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa and Michigan’s Democratic Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed support moratoriums on development.

The longtime senator counted tech executives like Palantir CEO Alex Karp and venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz among her donors. Democratic challenger Troy Jackson also received some billionaire support, but no obvious tech ties. Maine almost became the first state to pause data centers, before the governor vetoed the moratorium.

NBC News projects Democrat Sherrod Brown will win back his former Senate seat from Republican Jon Husted, who Brown had labeled “the face of data centers.” The National Republican Senatorial Committee warned in a leaked August memo that if Husted loses “and data centers get the blame, politicians across the country will take notice — and they will not go near the next one.”

Both Democrats James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa are projected by NBC News to win their Senate and gubernatorial races, respectively. Hinojosa has called for a moratorium on data center development in the state, while Talarico has favored ending tax incentives and creating an “AI dividend” for Americans to share in profits.

People hate data centers . They’re loud, resource-hungry eyesores that are so profoundly unpopular they have managed to achieve the near-impossible in today’s polarized political landscape: genuine bipartisan opposition . But what about “compute campuses”? Those sound lovely, right?

OpenAI seems to be gambling that a quiet rebrand could be all it takes to defuse the growing political backlash that threatens to derail the infrastructure fueling the AI boom.

In an announcement on Monday , OpenAI says it will pilot its “Grid Protectors Program” at an upcoming data center in Effingham County, Georgia, where the company promises to free up to 1,000 megawatts of power during extreme weather or emergencies, enough to power air conditioners in around 700,000 homes.

The announcement comes as opposition to data centers spreads across the US, in response to massive projects that have begun development and construction, frequently with little or no input from local residents. In Utah, residents protested after Box Elder County commissioners signed off on a data center expected to consume more than double the state’s peak electricity demand in 2025, and spread hot air in the desert valley surrounding the data center.

Patti Zirhut, a lifelong Republican, has been studying her ballot for weeks. Zirhut eagerly voted for President Donald Trump in 2016, 2020, and 2024, but she isn’t toeing the party line this year. “My ballot is all mixed up,” she says. She’s voting for some Republicans, some independents, and even a few Democrats. Zirhut remains undecided on a few races, but of one thing she is absolutely certain: “I will not vote for Byron Donalds,” she tells me. “No way will I ever vote for him.”

Donalds, the Republican nominee in Florida’s gubernatorial election, has Trump’s endorsement, the party’s backing, and $148 million in campaign funds, much of it from the tech industry. It’s this latest point that particularly rankles Zirhut, an organizer with a group called No Data Center Hernando County, whose purpose is summed up in its name. Donalds has been a vocal supporter of the controversial developments — a fact that may now cost him votes, even among members of his own party.

A high-stakes California ballot measure pitched as a fast track for “essential” infrastructure could wind up giving data center developers a loophole to evade public scrutiny, environmental advocates warn.

Proposition 45 would shorten timelines for state-mandated environmental assessments for eligible projects and make it more difficult for residents to challenge those projects in court. Proponents say passing the measure would help alleviate the state’s housing shortage and meet rising electricity demand with new renewable energy projects. Environmental groups and some legal experts, however, warn that data center developers backing the proposition could escape scrutiny if Prop 45 becomes law.

Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, was midway through defending her record during the final debate of the midterms when an audience member cut her short.

“I’m terrified,” a man shouted. “AI data centers are destroying our climate. They are poisoning our water.” Collins brushed off the outburst, tying the man to her Democratic challenger, Troy Jackson. But the fear echoing through the auditorium wasn’t so easily dismissed. Just days before voters head to the polls, the rapid expansion of resource-hungry data centers has exploded into one of Maine’s most volatile campaign issues.

The US power sector could release 42 percent more planet-heating carbon dioxide pollution by 2030 than it did in 2025 as it builds out more fossil fuel infrastructure to meet data center electricity demand, according to a new analysis by the Sierra Club . That would essentially wipe out 15 years of greenhouse gas reductions.

CO2 emissions from electricity generation would increase by 618 million tons by the end of the decade if planned AI projects are constructed. That’s roughly equivalent to carbon pollution from the electricity use of 128,788,523 homes in a year.

AI data center projects are continuing to pop up across the US, with frequent opposition from locals concerned about their impact. Here are a few recent articles about the projects:

Ask Texas NAACP president Gary Bledsoe what it’s been like to see data center developers descend upon Austin and its surrounding suburbs and he can rattle off project after project facing opposition from locals.

There’s the fight in Taylor over plans to build a data center at a site that’s supposed to be a park. Temple, around 40 miles away, is another sore spot, Bledsoe says. The mayor and City Council members there face recall attempts over data center developments. And some 30 miles outside of Austin, San Marcos became the first city in all of Texas to ban data centers .

NBC News reports that accelerated data center construction across the country is creating new opportunities for heists that involve phishing, corporate identity theft, and car-ramming.

If there’s one issue that seems to activate all kinds of voters in 2026, it’s data centers. The rapid buildout of these massive server storage facilities — and the infrastructure construction and expenses that come with them — has sparked local opposition in communities across the country and become a major issue in many congressional and gubernatorial campaigns.

At the same time, tech money has been pouring into many of these races. Leading the Future, a super PAC backed by venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and OpenAI President Greg Brockman, has already spent $45 million in a year. And Public First Action, an Anthropic-backed group that says it supports AI safeguards, says it’s raised $80 million . Both have funded Democratic and Republican-aligned groups. Other super PACs see an opportunity to push for stricter AI policies , like the recently created Tomorrow Together, which launched $4 million in ads for battleground House races, with messages about data center development and AI safety .

As it prepares to go public , Anthropic’s S-1 filing makes generative AI’s methane dependency glaringly obvious.

In documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission Monday, Anthropic acknowledges that data centers are becoming increasingly reliant on “natural gas” — the fossil fuel industry’s marketing term for what is primarily methane — leaving the company’s AI data center buildout vulnerable to rising fuel costs and existing supply chain constraints. And in a possible catch-22, Anthropic admits that rising global temperatures — a symptom of burning fossil fuels — will increase the company’s operating costs.

The New York Times reports that data centers are “painting gray concrete and gray steel with more gray,” leading to an unexpected boom for paint manufacturers. Gravel producers and wiring companies are also enjoying an uptick, “creating a long tail of unlikely winners.”

A rush of new data centers could bring air pollution roaring back to levels not seen since the 2000s in Texas, which has become ground zero for the physical infrastructure behind generative AI.

New and proposed data centers are demanding a tremendous amount of electricity. How developers and utilities meet that demand — with gas turbines or renewable energy — will determine just how dirty things will get. So far, though, things are looking grim.

AI data center projects are continuing to pop up across the US, with frequent opposition from locals concerned about their impact. Here are a few recent articles about the projects:

Continuing to push the widely unpopular data center projects, Trump said in a Truth Social post that some of them “have become extremely popular when a financial deal is struck.” His plan sounds lot like Meta’s approach on the Hyperion project in Louisiana, where Mark Zuckerberg has touted $50,000 bonus checks for teachers despite a secretive approval process residents didn’t know much about.

Governor Greg Abbott announced a permitting pause for data centers in September. But state agencies are still processing permits, according to an analysis of public records by advocacy groups Public Citizen and FracTracker. The governor’s office, however, denies approving any data center-related permits.