Kimmeridge, an investment firm with a focus on energy, is warning that nearly half of all US data centers will face delays as political and regulatory backlash mounts. The firm says those delays threaten to slow the construction of new facilities, which would in turn hamper AI development and the energy demand that comes with it.
The size of the risk
Kimmeridge says that almost half of the data centers in the US are now facing the prospect of delayed buildouts. The reason, according to the firm, is a growing pushback from politicians and regulators. What started as a few local disputes has become a widespread hurdle.
Data centers need land, water, and huge amounts of power, and they're increasingly being met by opposition from communities and state officials. That opposition is now translating into regulatory friction that slows down permitting and construction.
Why it's a threat to AI
The delay isn't just about buildings and cables. Data centers are the backbone of AI training and inference. Without them, AI models can't be trained or deployed at scale. So when data centers stall, AI development stalls with it.
The firm points to the direct connection between data center growth and AI advancement. It also links the slowdown to energy demand. Data centers need massive amounts of electricity, and if they aren't built, that energy demand doesn't materialize, which could also affect energy planning and investments.
The economic implications
There's a real economic cost to these delays. Data centers create jobs, attract investment, and drive down costs for AI services. When a project is delayed, that spending is pushed off, and the economic benefits are postponed.
Kimmeridge didn't give a dollar figure for the impact, but it said the implications are significant. The firm is speaking up because it sees these delays as a growing problem for the energy and technology sectors, both of which it follows closely.
What happens next
The question now is whether the US can find a way to ease the regulatory and political pressure without abandoning the data center boom. Kimmeridge is warning that if the delays aren't addressed, the country could fall behind in AI, and that's a risk it says is too big to ignore.
