Meta sees tougher path for data-centre expansion after midterms

Meta has operated data centres across 23 states after two decades of construction to support its social networking products. Its next phase includes five planned projects, each at least one gigawatt in size, including one in Texas. Powell McCormick said future developments would face greater scrutiny and be judged partly on whether local constituents want them.

She acknowledged at the WSJ Tech conference on Wednesday that the industry had “not done as good a job as we needed to explain the benefits of these investments.” Data centres are the most visible sign of AI’s growth, she said, and residents can oppose having one in their community. The deeper concern, in her view, is how people feel about AI generally.

Democrats, who won control of both the Senate and the House for the remainder of President Trump’s term, campaigned to slow data-centre and AI expansion, including through calls for a national moratorium. Meta’s approach to winning local support includes paying for its own electricity, directing any data-centre tax surplus to teachers and first responders, hiring locally and seeking bipartisan backing before construction. “I think it’s going to be harder,” Powell McCormick said, adding that states are increasingly identifying models they consider effective.

The political shift coincided with a sharp market decline. The Nasdaq fell 5.5 percent on Thursday, wiping out an estimated $2.5 trillion in market value and entering correction territory. The downturn spread to Asian and European markets in the following session, although the index remained above its level a year earlier and was up about 4.6 percent for the year. NVIDIA dropped more than nine percent, while the so-called magnificent seven, including Tesla, lost $1 trillion in one session. South Korea’s Kospi triggered a circuit breaker before closing down six percent; SK Hynix fell more than 10 percent.