Meta warns that election backlash against data centers could make AI expansion harder

Meta president Dina Powell McCormick warned that the Democratic victories in the midterm elections could make it more difficult for the company to expand its data center infrastructure. Speaking at the WSJ Tech conference, she noted that the backlash against data centers, which resonated with voters' concerns about AI technology, could hinder the company's plans.

McCormick, addressing the visible manifestation of AI as a data center, stressed that people often oppose these facilities within their communities. She believed Meta could reverse this negative sentiment if it effectively demonstrated the value of data centers and the technology behind them. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, known for his "long human" approach, is betting on the technology to benefit humanity, particularly in areas like curing cancer and providing educational access.

Meta has been constructing data centers for 20 years, now boasting facilities in 23 states, with five of them planned to be 1 gigawatt or larger. However, Meta now faces potential setbacks due to politicians campaigning against data centers during the midterms. The company acknowledges that it has indeed made mistakes in communicating the benefits of these investments.

To succeed, McCormick emphasized that Meta must ensure its projects bring tangible benefits to communities, such as paying for electricity, directing tax surpluses to educators and first responders, maintaining a local workforce, and gaining bipartisan support. Looking forward, Meta expects data center projects to face more scrutiny and be evaluated based on community desires.

Although Meta is optimistic about its AI investments, particularly its consumer AI agent Muse, which currently has 10 million users, the company remains hopeful that data centers will eventually prove valuable, even if the AI venture does not scale to serve billions.