At least 22 companies warned investors about opposition to data centers or moratoria on building them in quarterly reports filed between October 1 and November 6, up from three in the same weeks of 2025 and one in 2024, according to a review of filings in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s full-text search system.
The 22 are five utilities, eight companies that operate or are developing data centers or mine crypto, eight suppliers of equipment, power or energy services, and Microsoft. Thirteen filed before the November 3 election, when voters favored limits in 46 of 47 local ballot measures, by unofficial counts.
The count covers 10-Q reports that tie data centers to community or public opposition, or to moratoria, and each was reviewed by hand. It treats WEC Energy and two subsidiaries as one company and leaves out three filers with less direct language: Entergy, Tucson Electric Power and FingerMotion. It is likely an undercount, because the search depends on specific words, companies need not repeat risk factors in every 10-Q, and more reports are due.
Bloom Energy’s report has a section headed “Increasing Opposition to Data Center Development.” It says opposition “continues to grow” and could shrink its market or cause project cancellations, though demand for its systems “has continued to be robust.” It also says projects using its fuel cells have faced “increased scrutiny, data requests, and discretionary hearings” that led to permitting delays. Keel Infrastructure says “political candidates have campaigned on platforms opposing data center development.” Core Scientific lists physical attacks, including those motivated by “opposition to AI, and opposition to data center development,” among its risks. Modine cites opposition “resulting from public skepticism of artificial intelligence.”
Avista says it paused processing large data center applications in September, a pause expected to last at least 12 months for projects needing significant new transmission or generation, and that local government agencies in its territory have “instituted moratoriums or pauses restricting data centers.” NiSource says “a number of counties and municipalities in Indiana have passed or proposed moratoria or ordinances” on data centers, though its NIPSCO service territory “has not been significantly affected.”
Equinix was the only company in the 2024 count, with a sentence saying government “limitations or moratoriums” could hurt its expansion plans. Its latest report adds that they could “prevent us from completing our data center construction projects leading to stranded capital.”
Microsoft’s October 2025 report said it faced “community opposition, local moratoriums, and hyper-local dissent.” Its October 2026 report adds “increasingly coordinated opposition to infrastructure development across jurisdictions, including through the involvement or influence of elected officials, policymakers, and advocacy groups.” Anthropic’s amended IPO filing, which is not a 10-Q, says opposition “has also become more organized and coordinated across jurisdictions, and our public profile may draw particular attention to projects associated with us.”
The latest 10-Qs and annual reports from Meta, Alphabet and Amazon do not mention opposition, moratoria or zoning in connection with data centers. Oracle’s June annual report says government-imposed “limits or moratoria on data center construction” could hinder its expansion plans; its September 10-Q does not repeat that. Meta president Dina Powell McCormick said at a Wall Street Journal conference on November 4 that the midterm results would make data centers harder to build.
A risk factor discloses a possible harm and does not measure lost business. Data Center Watch counted at least 45 US projects blocked or delayed by local opposition in the second quarter.
Sources: SEC EDGAR, Microsoft 10-Q, Bloom Energy 10-Q
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By the Control Plane Editorial Team