Bank of America: Data Center Pushback May Help Cool AI Investment Boom

According to CNBC, Democrats’ gains in Tuesday’s U.S. midterm elections renewed concern about data-center expansion, but economists said political resistance could slow AI investment and make the boom more sustainable. Bank of America economist Aditya Bhave said AI-related capital expenditures had grown at a 26% annualized pace in real terms since the beginning of last year, a rate he viewed as a sign of overinvestment and a greater risk of a hard landing. RSM US chief economist Joseph Brusuelas said a slower investment pace could also redirect capital into other areas of the economy. On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 2% as of 12 p.m. ET, the Dow gained about 3% and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.5%. Meta, Google, Amazon and Microsoft were each up more than 4% as of 2 p.m., while GE Vernova fell about 10% and Constellation Energy declined 6%. AI-focused cloud providers CoreWeave, Nebius and IREN fell about 9%, 6% and 11%, respectively.