Politics

Big Tech, Unions And Private Equity Team Up To Stop States From Freezing Data Center Construction

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Top artificial intelligence and private equity firms are teaming up with building trades unions to stop states from freezing data center construction.

OpenAI, Blackstone, QTS and SoftBank joined five unions to form the American Infrastructure Alliance (AIA), a multimillion-dollar coalition that plans to work with officials in seven states on data center standards in 2027 to head off moratoriums, Axios first reported Monday.

“Blanket bans on necessary infrastructure projects would set back our economy and threaten good middle-class jobs,” Kenneth Cooper, international president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), told Axios.

The alliance is a “high eight-figure campaign” but is not disclosing specific spending amounts, a spokesperson said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“AIA will support standards that ensure that operators pay for the energy and infrastructure needed, protecting households, ratepayers, and local communities from added costs,” the spokesperson added. “More expansive guidelines are forthcoming.”

The IBEW did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

Mitch Jones, managing director of policy and litigation at Food & Water Watch, an environmental group that has called for a nationwide moratorium on new data centers, said in a statement to the DCNF that the construction jobs data centers create are “transitory and fleeting.”

“Once centers are constructed, very few jobs remain in the facilities themselves,” Jones said. “Our research has found that as of 2024 there were only 23,000 people working permanently in data centers across the country.”

“The point of a moratorium is to allow for rigorous study to determine if this industry can ever be regulated safely,” Jones added. “This is truly an open question.”

Jones argued that requiring the industry to “pay its own way” or “bring its own power” would not address other concerns, including noise, air pollution, water contamination and the loss of farmland.

“Responsible growth requires clear expectations for everyone involved,” Tag Greason, co-CEO of Blackstone-owned QTS, told Axios.

The coalition plans initial campaigns in Texas, Georgia, Ohio, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Indiana and South Carolina, according to Axios.

Abbott directed Texas regulators on Aug. 3 to audit every data center seeking to connect to the state’s grid and ordered that no project move forward until the audit is complete.

Data centers account for about 90% of the more than 474 gigawatts of requests to connect to the Texas grid, according to the governor’s office.

Abbott’s office did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

“Data centers must pay for their own electric infrastructure, add power instead of only adding demand, reuse their own water, reduce the cost of electricity for Texans, not disrupt residential neighborhoods, and eliminate reliance on outdated taxpayer-funded incentives,” Abbott press secretary Andrew Mahaleris said in a statement to the DCNF on Sept. 22.

The alliance’s Texas affiliate says on its website that it backs Abbott’s push for new data center standards and accountability measures.

Besides the IBEW, the coalition includes the United Association of Union Plumbers and Pipefitters, the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers and the International Association of Iron Workers, according to Axios.

A poll of 800 registered Ohio voters conducted in August for the Infrastructure Alliance of Ohio found that 67 percent viewed data centers unfavorably and 18 percent favorably, while 74 percent opposed building one near their community.

Support rose to 60 percent when respondents were told data center companies would cover the full cost of their infrastructure, create jobs, generate tax revenue and protect electric bills, according to the poll.

Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced legislation in March that would impose an immediate federal moratorium on artificial intelligence data centers until national safeguards are in place.

More than 500 groups from 47 states, including Food & Water Watch, called in June for a nationwide moratorium on artificial intelligence data centers.

Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who celebrated a $20 billion Amazon data center investment in 2025, signed an executive order in August to tighten the rules for data center development.