After the Midterms, Is the AI Industry Facing a Rough Two Years?
Democrats' historic victories in this week's U.S. midterm elections could also transform the tech industry.
Voters Push Back on Data Centers
On Tuesday, the public voted on 41 data center-related ballot measures. In all but one, the majority voted to impose more restrictions on data center development. Even when data centers weren't directly on the ballot, they were a major talking point, with newly elected Democratic governors and congressmembers likely to support additional regulation.
What the Election Means for Tech
On the latest episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Sean O'Kane, and Anthony Ha discuss what the election will mean for the tech industry moving forwardβnot just when it comes to data centers (which OpenAI is already trying to rebrand as "compute campuses"), but also increased government scrutiny of Big Tech.
In This Episode
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
- Whether Google's first satellite data center is ushering in an orbital data center future
- If major layoffs at design software company Canva and website builder Squarespace can be blamed on AI
- Marvell's $115 billion acquisition of Lumentum, one of the largest deals in history
- Why CrowdStrike just acquired two AI security startups, Fiddler AI and Dreadnode
- What NBCUniversal's investment in Indian microdrama startup Elo means for the media landscape
Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You can also follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.
Chapters
- 00:00 Intro
- 00:47 Founder Summit recap and an Equity team update
- 02:23 Midterm results and the data center backlash
- 07:49 OpenAI rebrands data centers as "compute campuses"
- 10:57 Wall Street cools on the data center buildout
- 13:30 Regulatory certainty and building outside the U.S.
- 15:45 Canva and Squarespace layoffs
- 20:37 Can AI chatbots replace products like Squarespace?
- 23:22 Marvell's $115B Lumentum acquisition
- 26:51 CrowdStrike buys Fiddler AI and Dreadnode
- 30:20 Microdrama startup raises $80M
- 30:59 Outro
via TechCrunch