Meta President Dina Powell McCormick noted that the Democratic wins in the midterm elections will complicate efforts to construct data centers, attributing this to the industry’s failure to adequately communicate the benefits of these investments.
Speaking at the WSJ Tech conference on Wednesday, the executive highlighted that voter backlash against data centers—significantly a factor in this election cycle—is deeply connected to public perceptions of AI technology.
"The visible sort of manifestation of AI is a data center, and it’s something that people can say, ‘I don’t want this in my community,’" she explained. "I think there’s an underlying bigger issue, which is how people feel about AI in general."
Meta aims to reverse negative consumer sentiment surrounding AI by demonstrating the tangible value of both the data centers entering local communities and the technology itself.
"The stakes of who builds the technology that cures cancer, that gives access to education, that is also a very fundamental difference…Mark [Zuckerberg, Meta CEO] is very ‘long human,’ and he’s betting on humans more than machines," Powell McCormick explained. "And that’s what we mean when we say the future is for everyone. That people should not be left behind. But the way to ensure that is that this technology is democratized, that people have access to it in a very fair and transparent way," she said.
The executive also emphasized Meta’s extensive history in data center construction, noting that the company has operated facilities for two decades to support its social networking products. She stated that Meta currently hosts data centers in 23 states, with five, including a project in Texas, planned to exceed one gigawatt in capacity.
However, Meta now fears that some investments could be jeopardized following politicians campaigning on anti-data-center platforms during the midterms.
"I think it’s going to be harder," Powell McCormick said regarding the future landscape of data center development. "It has been hard, I should say, but I also think that it’s becoming clear what models work, and the states want those models that work."
Specifically, communities are only receptive to data centers if they receive tangible benefits, she explained, outlining the strategy Meta employs to secure local agreements. Successful projects involve Meta covering its own electricity costs, directing tax surpluses toward teachers and first responders, maintaining a local workforce, and securing bipartisan support.
Looking ahead, she anticipates that data center projects will undergo increased scrutiny regarding whether constituents genuinely desire them.
Meta is banking on its AI initiatives, particularly the consumer AI agent Muse, to scale beyond its current 10 million users and eventually serve billions. Nevertheless, the company remains confident that its data center investments will not be wasted, as the underlying computing power retains value.
"We’re getting calls every day to lease that compute [we’ve built], and so one way or another, we’re seeing a path to monetization," Powell McCormick said.
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