Newly elected governors in multiple U.S. states plan to pause data center construction, affecting about 40% of pending capacity.

Newly elected governors in Ohio, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico and Texas have pledged to halt or pause statewide data center construction, while incoming governors in New York and Oregon promised to extend existing moratoriums, following a midterm election that shifted the regulatory landscape against AI infrastructure. According to market intelligence firm Cleanview, roughly 40% of the pending U.S. data center capacity is planned for these states. In addition, 46 local ballot measures have passed or are expected to pass that would impede data center development, at least 17 of which directly ban construction of large facilities. The pushback matters because it threatens to slow the buildout of computing capacity underpinning the AI boom. What to watch next is whether Alaska and Kansas, where pro-moratorium candidates currently lead, formally confirm their results and how developers reroute projects toward friendlier jurisdictions.