Meta warns election backlash could make data center expansion harder

Meta President Dina Powell McCormick said political opposition to data centers could make it harder for companies to build them. She spoke at the WSJ Tech conference on Wednesday, after Democratic wins in the midterm elections. She said the industry had not done enough to explain the benefits of data center investments.

Powell McCormick linked the backlash to concerns about AI more broadly. She said Meta believes it can improve sentiment by showing communities the value of both data centers and the technology they support. She described access to AI as something that should be fair and transparent, and said people should not be left behind.

She said Meta has built data centers for 20 years and has sites in 23 states. Five planned projects, including one in Texas, are each sized at one gigawatt or more. Powell McCormick said communities want projects that benefit them. She cited Meta paying for its own electricity, directing tax surpluses to teachers and first responders, hiring locally, and securing bipartisan support as parts of its approach.

Powell McCormick expects data center projects to face more scrutiny. Meta is counting on its AI agent Muse, which she said has 10 million users today, to grow far beyond that and potentially serve billions. She added that even if Muse does not reach that scale, Meta believes its computing capacity will remain valuable. She said the company receives daily calls to lease that capacity and sees a path to monetization.