Proposed US AI data centers could face tougher scrutiny; OpenAI makes project commitmentsMachine translation

WSJ: Half of proposed US AI data center additions could face tougher local scrutiny after Democrats won the House, Senate and key governorships. Texas and Ohio, once safe harbors for builders, could halt construction until residents get assurances on water supplies and electricity prices. Meta President Dina Powell McCormick said every hyperscaler is now considering building outside the US. OpenAI answered within days by committing to avoid nondisclosure agreements in data center deals and to keep residents from paying for the projects’ electricity. Congressional Democrats are expected to use hearings and subpoenas to probe AI safety incidents. Senator Elizabeth Warren, expected to chair Senate Banking, has sought a hearing with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang over China chip sales, which he declined, and her gavel would bring subpoena power.

Wall Street erased $3.2 tn in market value on Thursday, Nov-5. The Nasdaq Composite fell 5.52%, its worst day since April 2025, as investors dumped AI chip stocks. The market collapse stemmed from investor panic that a Democrat-controlled Congress will fundamentally slow down the highly leveraged AI spending boom. Goldman Sachs says short-term moratoria could affect about 45% of planned US data centre capacity. Midterm losses for data centres hit CoreWeave and other debt-funded GPU renters hardest. Fewer new data centers means fewer orders for the GPUs and memory that fill them, so chipmakers took the worst hit. Nvidia sank 9.3%, erasing its 2026 gains, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor index fell 12.3%, its worst day in about 6.5 years. SanDisk fell 22%, and Micron, Western Digital and AMD each lost 17%. Even Meta President Dina Powell McCormick said building data centers is “going to be harder” after the elections.