Ohio voters back data center bans as markets split on what it means for tech

Voters in several Ohio communities rejected data center projects at the ballot box on Tuesday, according to a report by Semafor.

In Piqua, voters approved a ban on large data centers and recalled the commissioners who backed a large Meta project there, Semafor reported. A similar ban passed in Trenton, less than 50 miles south. Outside Columbus, which Semafor called the heart of Ohio's data center boom, voters in the village of Ashville repealed its deal with developer EdgeConneX.

Semafor described the Ohio results as part of a wider wave of opposition to data centers, with dozens of ballot measures across the country dealing with bans, moratoriums, or stricter regulation and oversight. The outlet said the votes were local and often emotional, but that they could have financial consequences because some of the projects involved were already under way.

The stakes go beyond individual towns. Semafor, citing an analysis by Cleanview, reported that more than 40% of planned US data center capacity sits in states where governors or governors-elect have promised or already imposed a pause on new data centers. Semafor said this does not mean construction will stop, but that markets are pricing in a slowdown.

That showed up in share prices on Wednesday, according to Semafor. Companies tied directly to building data centers fell sharply. Modine, which makes HVAC systems for data centers, dropped about 21%, and Sterling Infrastructure, which does site preparation and electrical work, also fell 21%.

The largest tech companies, known as hyperscalers, saw their shares rise. Semafor reported that traders are betting these companies will be pushed to cut back the heavy spending that has turned their free cash flow negative. Andrew Pauker, a US equities strategist at Morgan Stanley, told Semafor that more limits on construction mean the compute capacity tech giants already have "potentially even becomes more valuable."

Semafor also reported that tech companies are rethinking their approach in Washington as they prepare for a Congress controlled by Democrats. One public affairs adviser who works with tech companies suggested they work with Democrats on national rules for data center development. Incoming Democrats in the House and Senate say they have a mandate to act on AI data centers, according to the report. Republican groups that had urged their party to listen to local concerns about data centers are saying Republicans in Washington have themselves to blame for their midterm losses after siding with AI companies.

Much is still unclear. The report does not say what will happen to Meta's Piqua project or to EdgeConneX's plans in Ashville, or whether these votes could face legal challenges. It also gives no full count of how the other measures around the country turned out, and does not say what national rules, if any, Congress might pursue.

RM Roger Morais Editor Roger Morais is a Portuguese-American journalist and web developer who founded RogerLe.com in 1996. He spent ten years at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, where he was a senior web developer, and now travels Europe full-time by motorhome. He decides what morais.news covers and approves every piece before it is published.