US stocks rallied on Wednesday after the midterm election results, as investors welcomed the prospect that political gridlock could reduce policy uncertainty. But concerns also grew that local opposition might delay data center projects, putting planned AI infrastructure expansion and related investment at risk.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1,569 points, or 3%. The S&P 500 rose 1.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.4%. The market value of major technology companies increased by more than $750 billion at one point during the session. Shares of some debt-funded data center operators fell, underscoring how investors responded differently to various parts of the AI infrastructure buildout.
Musk spent $224 million in Texas
The election also reignited debate over the role of wealthy donors in US politics. Virgin Group founder Richard Branson wrote on LinkedIn on Wednesday that he was embarrassed by technology entrepreneurs and hedge fund managers spending billions of dollars to influence elections. He called for campaign finance reform. Branson did not make donations above the reporting threshold during the 2026 election cycle.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk was the election's largest individual donor. The Republican candidates he backed lost races for Texas senator and governor. Musk spent $224 million in Texas, nearly half of his $474 million in political donations nationwide. After the results came in, he posted on X about putting data centers in space and joked that his “election-interfering space lasers” had failed.
LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman called for “getting money out of politics” in a post on X, criticizing Musk for spending heavily in support of what Hoffman described as authoritarians. Alex Soros, a major Democratic donor, called the result “a world-changing day.” His family contributed about $103 million to Democratic political activities.
Investors flag delays to AI infrastructure projects
The implications for AI became another focus for investors. Before polls closed, Pershing Square founder Bill Ackman said slowing AI research could weaken the US technology advantage. “We cannot slow down, effectively,” he said. Investor Chamath Palihapitiya told a live election-night podcast that, if the results were confirmed, a risk to the AI trade was that data center construction could be blocked. “The only way to sink the AI trade is to sink the data centers,” he said.
Texas has become a test case for those concerns. Democrat Gina Hinojosa, the state's governor-elect, had proposed pausing new data center construction until stronger safeguards were in place. She defeated Republican Governor Greg Abbott, who had sought re-election.
Brad Gerstner, CEO of Altimeter Capital, warned during an election-night livestream that Democratic gains could leave at least 10 billion to 15 billion watts of planned AI data center capacity—scheduled to come online in 2027—unable to proceed. Analyst Dan Ives estimated that about 10% of planned data center projects in the US might not move forward. These figures are estimates of project risk, not counts of projects already canceled.
AMD's Su urges tech firms to address community concerns
AMD CEO Lisa Su acknowledged that AI expansion is facing growing resistance. She said on Wednesday that technology companies need to explain the benefits of data centers to local communities, adding that it is important to ensure everyone benefits from AI. Local approvals, construction conditions and community views could all affect the supply of new computing capacity.
Slower construction could also raise the value of existing data center facilities and ease pressure on capital spending by major technology companies. That may help explain why large-cap tech stocks rose after the election while some debt-dependent data center operators fell. Investors are weighing both the pace of future AI infrastructure growth and the potential effects of constrained supply on existing assets and Big Tech spending.