Nov 5 (Reuters) – Alphabet’s Google will invest $17 billion to build its first data center in Wyoming, the company said on Thursday, pushing ahead with a major AI infrastructure investment as political resistance to data center expansion grows following the US midterm elections.
Of the 41 data center-related ballot measures voted on this week, all but one went against data centers, according to Ballotpedia.
Google’s facility will be built in partnership with Tallgrass Energy, Black Hills Energy, American Electric Power and Related Digital.
The project will be powered in part by a planned 702-megawatt fuel-cell development equipped with carbon capture and storage technology. The fuel cells will be supplied by Bloom Energy.
Wyoming is a Republican stronghold, where Donald Trump won more than 70% of the presidential vote in 2024.
The announcement comes as investors reassess the pace of the AI infrastructure buildout. Wins by candidates opposed to data-center expansion in key Texas and Georgia races during the midterm elections have added to concerns that political resistance could complicate the industry’s rapid expansion.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has declined to expand a Texas data-center agreement with AI cloud provider Nscale, with Bloomberg News reporting earlier in the day that the company planned to tighten oversight of some data-center projects from neocloud providers Nebius, IREN and Nscale.
Shares of Bloom Energy also slumped more than 14% on worries that any potential restrictions could hit the industry.
(Reporting by Prathik Jayaprakash in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
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