Nine US states now have a governor or governor-elect who has promised or already imposed a pause on new data centers, and those states hold 158.6 GW of planned capacity, or 41% of the US pipeline, according to the market-intelligence firm Cleanview. Cleanview also wrote: “OpenAI’s entire planned pipeline is located in states with a new governor who backed a pause on the campaign trail”.
Bloomberg reported the figure as about 40%, citing Cleanview’s data. Texas alone holds 88.4 GW of planned capacity, Cleanview said, which is 55.7% of the 158.6 GW by our arithmetic.
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The key insight: As we read it, Cleanview’s count puts 158.6 GW, 41% of the US data-center pipeline, in nine states whose governor or governor-elect backs a pause, and Texas holds 88.4 GW of it, 55.7% by our arithmetic. Cleanview also wrote that all of OpenAI‘s planned pipeline sits in those states.
Cleanview gives three state figures. Texas holds 88.4 GW of the planned pipeline. In Ohio, developers have announced 21.9 GW of data centers that are not yet under construction. Georgia’s change of government puts 20.2 GW of planned capacity “under new management”, in Cleanview’s words. That leaves 28.1 GW across the other six states, by our arithmetic; Cleanview’s state figures may not all use the same base.
Bloomberg named the states. Newly elected governors in Ohio, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico and Texas campaigned on stopping or pausing data-center construction statewide, while those in New York and Oregon pledged to prolong pauses already in place. Candidates calling for a moratorium also lead in Alaska and Kansas, where the races had not been called, Bloomberg reported.
Another 69.2 GW, or 18%, is in states where the winner wants to change tax breaks or other rules but has not backed a pause, Cleanview said.
The pledges target new construction. Cleanview wrote that “the 56.7 GW of data center capacity under construction nationwide is less exposed”. The 158.6 GW in pause states is 2.8 times that national under-construction total, by our arithmetic.
Cleanview’s own framing is “Governors will pause, not ban data centers”. It wrote that “Most candidates said a moratorium would last until the new rules are written”, and that the results “don’t signal the end of the data center boom”.
OpenAI’s Sites
For OpenAI, Cleanview listed two sites. In New Mexico, “Most of the New Mexico campus is under construction, but the air permit for its gas plant is pending”, it wrote of Project Jupiter. In Georgia, Effingham County tabled the site plan for OpenAI’s 3.2 GW Project Camellia on election night until November 17, Cleanview said.
On-site power is part of the exposure. Of the planned capacity in states with pauses coming, 56.1 GW include on-site gas, and 45 GW of that is in Texas, Cleanview said. That is 35.4% of the 158.6 GW, with Texas about 80% of the gas-backed share, by our arithmetic.
The Estimates Around It
Bloomberg Intelligence technology analyst Mandeep Singh estimated that the results could shrink the $1.4 trillion that technology companies were expected to spend on AI infrastructure by roughly 5% to 7% in 2027, and that as many as 10 gigawatts of data-center capacity could fail to come online next year as planned, Bloomberg reported.
The industry’s view: Dan Diorio of the Data Center Coalition said communities that prohibit data centers risk seeing investment move elsewhere. “That’s going to go to other communities that have not shut themselves off”, he told Bloomberg.
Other firms measure the exposure differently. Goldman Sachs puts about 45% of planned US capacity in states likely to tighten data-center rules, with Texas about a quarter, investingLive reported. Evercore ISI puts more than 40% of planned capacity in Texas, Georgia and Ohio, the Wall Street Journal reported. Cleanview’s 41%, Goldman’s about 45% and Evercore’s more than 40% are different measures from different firms, and we do not add or average them.
As we read the state figures, Texas is the swing state: its 88.4 GW is more than the other eight states combined, by our arithmetic.
As we read the counterweights, the exposure is to new construction: Cleanview says the 56.7 GW under construction nationwide is less exposed, and it calls the pledges pauses, not bans.
As we read the three firmsโ figures, Cleanviewโs 41%, Goldmanโs about 45% and Evercoreโs more than 40% are different measures, and we do not add or average them.
Cleanview newsletter, Newly Elected Governors Could Pause 41% of Americaโs Planned Data Centers
“OpenAIโs entire planned pipeline is located in states with a new governor who backed a pause on the campaign trail”
Three Implications
FOR AI BUILDERS Cleanview counts 158.6 GW of planned capacity in nine pause states, 41% of the US pipeline.
FOR CAPACITY ALREADY IN THE GROUND Cleanview says the 56.7 GW under construction nationwide is less exposed.
FOR SPENDING Bloomberg Intelligence estimates 2027 AI infrastructure spend could shrink by roughly 5% to 7%, Bloomberg reported.
The framework says: “Companies that solve the power equation will dominate the AI era; those that don’t will watch their chips sit idle.”
As we read it, where a campus can get approved is now part of that power equation. The framework does not discuss these states, governors or Cleanview’s count.
What Is Not Established
Most of the pledges come from governors-elect who take office next year. Cleanview wrote that most candidates tied a moratorium to new rules and that the full impact will not be known until state legislatures meet next year. Some pauses already exist: in Texas, sitting Governor Greg Abbott began a pause on new grid approvals and state permits in August and expanded it in September, Cleanview said, and Bloomberg reported that the governors-elect in New York and Oregon pledged to prolong pauses already in place.
The 158.6 GW is planned capacity in Cleanview’s tracker. The sources we read do not report projects cancelled because of the results; Effingham County tabled, rather than rejected, the Project Camellia site plan. The 28.1 GW for the other six states is our subtraction, and Bloomberg Intelligence’s 5% to 7% and 10 GW are estimates.
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Cleanview counts 158.6 GW, 41% of the US data-center pipeline, in nine states whose governor or governor-elect backs a pause, with Texas holding 88.4 GW and all of OpenAI’s planned pipeline inside those states. The 56.7 GW already under construction nationwide is less exposed, and Cleanview describes the pledges as pauses until new rules are written, not bans.
A note on sourcing. The capacity figures are from Cleanview’s newsletter, read on 6 November 2026; Bloomberg’s article was read in full in its EnergyConnects syndication. Goldman Sachs’s and Evercore ISI’s figures are as reported by investingLive and the Wall Street Journal, linked in our earlier pieces. The 55.7%, 28.1 GW, 2.8 times, 35.4% and 80% are our arithmetic.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
