STOCKS | U.S. Data Center Shares Plunge as Texas Turns Blue, Triggering Ripple Effects

Some U.S. cloud-computing providers and data-center suppliers fell after Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections. According to Sina Finance, Democrat Gina Hinojosa will become Texas governor; a Bank of America strategist had previously described the state election as a “referendum on affordability versus AI data centers.” Cipher Digital, which has business exposure in Texas, plunged as much as 22%, while CleanSpark fell 15%. After Hinojosa’s victory, KBW downgraded both stocks from “Outperform” to “Market Perform.” Analyst Stephen Glagola expected increased regulatory uncertainty to affect lease-signing timelines and reduce the likelihood of the companies reaching final agreements for Texas projects. Other AI computing-related stocks also fell: IREN dropped 13%, CoreWeave 9.6%, Fermi 8.9% and Nebius 7.2%. Industrial suppliers to data centers declined, with Vertiv down 13%, GE Vernova 12%, Bloom Energy 9.8% and Caterpillar 6.6%. Semiconductor shares also fell: Micron lost 6.6%, Intel 5.7%, Nvidia 2.8% and Broadcom 2.5%. The largest cloud-computing providers, known as hyperscalers, rose: Amazon gained 8.3%, Microsoft 7%, Alphabet 5.9% and Oracle 2.9%. Large data-center REITs had mixed but relatively modest moves: Equinix rose 1.5%, while Digital Realty fell 1.9%.