The recent selloff in Nvidia and other AI infrastructure stocks came as developers were already facing stronger resistance to new data centers. Reuters reported losses across several companies that build or rent computing capacity, amid investor worries about financing and the wider market. Those moves can make it harder for a developer to raise money, particularly before it has secured customers. The timetable for any individual campus also depends on decisions made far from the stock exchange.
Communities can influence projects through zoning and construction approvals, while utilities must determine whether a site can receive the electricity a developer wants. The Associated Press documented growing support among newly elected officials for tighter rules and, in some places, moratoriums. Officials reviewing a proposal may want to know who pays for new transmission lines and what happens to those costs if the project shrinks. Those questions can delay a campus long before any servers go online.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimates that data centers could account for between 9.5 and 15.3 percent of US electricity use by 2030 under its scenarios. The International Energy Agency projects that the electricity generated globally for data centers could more than double from 2024 to 2030 in its base case. These are projections for the data center industry as a whole, including conventional computing. They also leave room for regional differences in where electricity demand rises and which power sources meet it.
A local delay can shift a project to another region with power available sooner. Developers can also fit more work into existing facilities by improving utilization or using more efficient chips. To see whether restrictions are slowing expansion across the industry, watch which campuses have secured electricity and begun construction. Project announcements alone can give an exaggerated impression of how much computing capacity is close to coming online.
Original analysis inspired by Ina Fried from Axios. Additional research and verification conducted through multiple sources.
