Goldman sees US data center growth intact despite opposition

Oct 5 (Reuters) - Rising political ‌opposition to ​US ​data centers has limited near-term impact on their rapid expansion, Goldman Sachs said, with its growth ‌outlook through 2027 remaining largely intact.

Goldman raised its ⁠2026 year-end US data center capacity forecast by 5 gigawatts(GW) to 64 ‌GW, while reducing its ‌2027 year-end forecast by 5 GW to 90 GW, in a note on Sunday.

• Data centers, which provide the ​computing power to train and run AI models, have drawn opposition in communities nationwide over concerns about ⁠electricity demand, utility costs and other local impacts

• "While US data center development faces increasing ​political and community opposition, project data and our updated capacity estimates suggest that the US ​data center growth outlook through 2027 ‌remains largely unchanged," Goldman said

• The Wall Street brokerage forecast US data center power demand ⁠to grow 38% or 12 GW in 2026 and 38% or 17 GW in 2027

• Just a third of Americans approve ⁠of the pace of data-center construction in the US, according to a ​June Reuters/Ipsos poll

• Only 14% of respondents would support a data center being built in their community to support artificial intelligence projects ‌for technology firms such as Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and Elon Musk's xAI, the poll ‌showed

• "Public sentiment has also turned more negative," Goldman added

• The ⁠backlash poses a political ‌challenge for Republicans heading ​into the US midterm elections on November 3

(Reporting by Kanchana Chakravarty in Bengaluru; Editing by Jochelle ‌Mendonca)

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