40 of 41 data center referendums rejected, AI and chip stocks become the biggest losers in the US midterm elections

A Democratic sweep in the U.S. midterms, driven by voter anger over living costs, wiped $2.3 trillion off the Nasdaq 100 in a single session (down 6.4%, its largest one-day market-cap loss on record) and sent the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down 12%, its worst day since March 2020. Voters rejected 40 of 41 local data-center ballot measures, and Ohio, Georgia and Texas—states holding over 40% of planned U.S. compute capacity, including 88.4 GW in Texas alone—elected Democratic governors pledged to pause or slow data-center development. Chipmakers bore the brunt: Western Digital fell 17%, SanDisk 22%, and Micron and AMD each dropped more than 17%, while neoclouds CoreWeave, Nebius and IREN have lost nearly 50% of market value over the past month, compounded by reports that Microsoft is exiting some Nebius, IREN and Nscale capacity deals. The selloff hit the AI IPO pipeline, with Kalshi odds of an Anthropic listing by December 1 falling from near 90% to 59% and potential investors valuing it at $1.1–1.3 trillion versus the $2 trillion discussed in early October. With divided government likely and RBC data showing S&P 500 annualized returns of just 5% under a Republican president and Democratic Congress—the weakest combination since 1953—the key question is whether permitting delays merely postpone AI infrastructure buildout, which could benefit incumbents holding 48% of global data-center capacity, or mark a deeper repricing of the AI trade.