It's hard to imagine that someone was a bigger loser than the Republican Party in yesterday's US midterm "blue wave".
asserted
someone → imagine → wave
But somehow, things went even worse for the data centre industry.
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things → go → industry
When data centres were on the ballot, they overwhelmingly lost.
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they → lose → ballot
There were about 41 different proposals put to voters in ten states, and all but one are on track for a loss for data centres.
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all → be → centres
An upset in the Texas governor's race saw Democrat Gina Hinojosa sail to victory.
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Hinojosa → see → victory
This puts Hinojosa, who has called for a ban on data centre construction, in charge of a state that currently has the biggest pipeline for data centre construction.
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that → put → construction
If the ban is carried out, this will likely put a big dent in national construction.
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this → carry → construction
Less directly but perhaps more consequentially, it's also cemented data centres as a politically toxic issue.
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it → cement → issue
Five per cent of all political ads on TV mentioned data centres, and the majority of them were negative.
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majority → mention → them
It was an even bigger proportion in states that have become hot spots for data centre construction — the topic was covered in as many as 14 per cent of all political ads in Wisconsin.
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topic → become → Wisconsin
An exit poll of voters conducted by NBC News found that three-quarters of voters oppose the construction of data centres in their community.
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quarters → conduct → community
More than 50 per cent of them said it was a crucial issue or major issue in their vote.
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it → say → vote
Corruption, cost of living, immigration and the Iran War all rated higher.
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Corruption → rat → living
But to keep things in perspective, data centres were not a political issue just two years ago.
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centres → keep → perspective
I mean this literally: I couldn't find an exit poll that even asked voters about data centres.
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that → mean → centres
Nor can I remember a time that a technology issue was so front and centre for voters.
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issue → remember → voters
(It feels a bit like a cursed monkey's paw somewhere just put one, shrivelled finger down for those who were hoping more people would pay attention to AI.)
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people → feel → AI
By the end of the 2026 midterm elections, data centres had become a bipartisan issue with candidates from both major parties opposing their construction.
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candidates → become → construction
(As always, US President Donald Trump was iconoclastic in his increasingly lonely but still vocal support for data centres and his rebranded "super intelligence".)
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Trump → rebrande → centres
There will be a lot of ink spilled on what voters were actually rejecting in this data centre repudiation.
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voters → spill → repudiation
Was this motivated by environmental concerns?
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this → motivate → concerns
Is the opposition to data centres a proxy for opposition to AI — obviously intrinsically intertwined as its physical manifest — or the impact of big tech itself?
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opposition → intertwine → tech
More broadly, was this white collar voters experiencing a new type of economic anxiety because they fear their roles could be automated using data centres?
uncertain
roles → experience → centres
It's obviously some combination of the above, but the proportions will matter a lot.
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proportions → matter → above
What does this mean for Australia?
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this → mean → Australia
One group keenly watching this result is Australia's political class.
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group → watch → result
It's not surprising that people who walk the halls of parliament are political sickos like many of us, but they're also certainly taking note of the data centre issue with an eye to what it means for us, here.
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it → walk → us
We should heed a note of caution against trying to directly transplant the midterm results to our political environment.
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We → heed → environment
Australia is not America in a lot of ways, including when it comes to data centres.
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it → include → centres
We've definitely seen an explosion in construction and proposals for a new generation of bigger, hungrier data centres, but the scale of our build out pales in comparison to our American friends.
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scale → see → friends
The combined capacity of Australia's existing 163 data centres is about 1.6 gigawatts, according to Data Centres Australia.
uncertain
capacity → combine → Australia
America has about 30 times that, at around 50 gigawatts of capacity, by one estimate.
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America → have → estimate
Our biggest data centre, AirTrunk's MEL1 in western Melbourne, is ten times smaller than the known capacity of Elon Musk's monstrous Colossus 2 (which was reportedly powered for a while by gas turbines without environmental permits, thanks in part to the laxer rules in the land of the free — another difference between our contexts).
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which → know → contexts
Recent polling found that 44 per cent of Australians would oppose a data centre built near them — not a great number for the industry, but not quite like the 76 per cent of Americans in exit polls.
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cent → find → polls
Australia has a bipartisan consensus from the two major parties on data centres, but in the opposite direction.
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Australia → have → direction
Just last month, the chairs of the parliament's joint inquiry into AI — Labor's Jo Briskey and the Liberal's deputy chair Jonathon Duniam — took the unusual step of sending a letter mid-way through the inquiry's investigation to give an "early indicator" of what they'd found.
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they → take → what
It outlined several things that would be required to get the top AI companies doing their "training" here — a goal that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has also explicitly stated is an objective of his government.
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Albanese → outline → government
Translation: Australia wants AI companies to build big data centres here.
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companies → want → centres
Now, the Australian politicians, staffers and those in the data centre industry who I spoke to about the midterms aren't completely terrified by the result.
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I → speak → result
They're very aware of the existing political stigma around data centres.
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They → exist → centres
…and 10 more, not listed.
The Aporia
