How the blue wave affects Microsoft and Amazon’s data center ambitions

Voters resoundingly rejected data centers — and the artificial intelligence boom they power — in the midterm elections this week. Dozens of ballot initiatives that block or curb data center construction passed, and candidates promising to slow down the AI infrastructure buildout prevailed. That means Washington state’s tech titans are grappling with a new reality.

Microsoft and Amazon are among the biggest data center developers in the country. In recent years, both have been branching out beyond their Pacific Northwest data center hubs in search of communities with fewer barriers and freer access to electricity — places like Ohio, Georgia, and Texas that just elected governors promising to close that open door to data centers.

“ There is going to be an impact,” said Miquel Vila, lead researcher for Data Center Watch at the AI consulting firm 10a Labs. “There is going to be a surge of regulations in key markets. Which…