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Tech Bosses Push Back on the Post-Midterm AI Sell-Off
Arm's CEO called the post-election fear about AI data centres "very, very short term thinking", as an analysis put Texas's grid review in mid-December.
After two days in which AI stocks lost hundreds of billions of dollars on fears that Democratic midterm wins would slow data-centre construction, the executives who sell into the build-out answered on Friday, November 6. Arm chief executive Rene Haas called the post-election fear "very, very short term thinking" and said the US must keep investing in data centres because "the rest of the world is ready and willing", CNBC reported.
Qualcomm's Cristiano Amon said data-centre anxiety is not a significant threat to his company, because data-centre infrastructure is only one of its businesses; Qualcomm shares had fallen 9.49% on Thursday. Box CEO Aaron Levie said AI "is clearly going in one direction" but warned that "doomerism" messaging from the industry can worsen public perception of AI companies, which is part of what voters reacted to. On Thursday alone, the "Magnificent Seven" lost more than $1 trillion of combined market value.
The political timetable is now clearer. In an analysis for Investing.com on November 7, Ivana Delevska laid out the Texas steps: Governor Greg Abbott ordered the grid operator ERCOT in August to review large data centres waiting to connect, and in September told the state environmental regulator to stop issuing data-centre permits until that review, expected in mid-December, is done. Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa, who has promised a moratorium until lawmakers set rules on power, water and local input, takes office on January 19.
The numbers explain both the fear and the pushback. Texas has about 93 gigawatts of announced data-centre projects, close to 30% of the US capacity scheduled for 2028, and large-load requests to ERCOT rose from over 230 gigawatts in February to over 438 gigawatts in June, against an all-time peak demand of about 85 gigawatts. But only about 19.5 gigawatts in Texas is under construction, and projects that cannot be built there are likely to move to other states or countries, Delevska argued, which makes Texas a question of timing more than cancellation.
Executives have an obvious interest in calming their investors, so their comments are best read alongside the dates. The Texas review in mid-December, Hinojosa's first moves after January 19 and the capital-spending guidance in hyperscalers' next results will show whether the build-out is delayed, relocated or cut; until then, the sell-off has priced the worst case for the most exposed builders.
Sources: CNBC — OpenAI, Arm and Qualcomm executives react to post-midterm AI sell-off (Nov 6, 2026); Investing.com — Texas data center restrictions threaten timelines, but not necessarily AI demand (Nov 7, 2026)