U.S. computer software and hardware prices recorded record annual rate increases in September 2026, driven by artificial intelligence infrastructure spending

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DeepSeek trained its initial model for approximately $6 million, compared to roughly $100 million spent by OpenAI to develop GPT-4.

DeepSeek's open-source AI release on January 27, 2025 caused Nvidia's stock to fall 16%, wiping out approximately $600 billion of Nvidia's market value.

Republican Nate Sheets criticized Democrat Clayton Tucker for holding stock in Energy Transfer, an energy company that contracted to supply natural gas to a Central Texas AI data center.

U.S. Senator Jon Husted proposed legislation requiring data center operators to cover their own electrical infrastructure costs, which Senate Democrats blocked in September 2026.

In a September 2026 UMass Amherst poll directed by Tatishe Nteta, 65% of Americans opposed local artificial intelligence data center construction, while 11% supported it.

Activists in Ohio formed Conserve Ohio to draft ballot initiatives that would ban data center construction, alter zoning rules, or mandate voter approval for large facilities.

More than 80 gas-burning power plants were proposed or under construction nationwide to power data centers, according to Environmental Integrity Project estimates.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered a pause on new grid connections for data centers in August 2026 amidst political pushback during the gubernatorial campaign.

Voters in at least three dozen U.S. cities, counties, and townships will consider November 2026 ballot measures to restrict or ban local data center construction.

The economic benefits of AI data centers outweigh their local environmental and infrastructure costs

GOP support for AI data centers is eroding the party's rural and suburban voter base

Real estate developers offered Ohio farmer Patty Spillman $1.5 million to purchase land near Grove City for an artificial intelligence data center, which she refused.

Data centers consumed 4.7 percent of total United States electricity in 2024, up from 4.4 percent in 2023, according to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Residents in Franklin County, Kansas, organized local opposition after city commissioners approved a proposed data center without prior public consultation or input.

U.S. data centers directly consumed an estimated 66 billion liters of water in 2023, according to a 2024 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report.

More than 1,500 data centers were under development across the United States in 2026 to support artificial intelligence, according to Pew Research Center.

Neighboring property owners in Grove City, Ohio, accepted developers' monetary offers to sell their farms for data center expansion.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas evaluated roughly 474 gigawatts of grid interconnection requests in July 2026, with 90 percent coming from data centers.

South Carolina should enact a moratorium on new AI data centers

Annie Andrews proposed a two-year moratorium on artificial intelligence data centers, while Senator Darline Graham argued the moratorium would allow China to win the race for AI dominance