Battle lines drawn on data centers as midterms near

What started as a local issue is now regional as high gas prices bring political sides together

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LONDON (Callaway Climate Insights) — The data center arms race at the heart of the AI revolution is beginning to become a major political issue in the U.S. as battle lines are drawn ahead of the major midterm elections in November.

But rather than a red-state, blue-state issue, this battle comes down to the price of energy and availability of water, two things voters on both sides of the political spectrum agree on. In the middle, as always, are the Big Tech companies — which have been less than transparent about the power and environmental footprints inflicted on states by their data center development.