What AI Leaders Can Learn from the Midterms

A facts-only brief, written by a local AI model from this article in The Wall Street Journal, November 5, 2026. It may contain mistakes, and it is not the article: the full story is at wsj.com.

Meta Platforms President Dina Powell McCormick stated on Wednesday that constructing new data centers will become more difficult following the midterm elections, although she noted that expanding existing projects remains feasible due to established track records. The company is currently developing facilities in Louisiana, Ohio, and Texas, while the incoming governors of Ohio and Texas have called for conditional freezes on new construction. This regulatory headwind coincides with a 43.4% decline in global AI venture funding to $94.3 billion in the third quarter, marking the second consecutive quarterly drop according to PitchBook.

Background

• Voters in dozens of localities across multiple states recently approved measures to restrict or halt new data center development, signaling broad bipartisan opposition to the industry’s expansion.
• Mercedes-Benz is integrating conversational AI into its vehicles using edge-computing models from Liquid AI, with a full rollout planned for the second quarter of 2027.
• China blocked SoftBank’s $5.4 billion acquisition of ABB’s robotics unit to protect its domestic lead in physical AI technology.
• Qualcomm reported an 8% drop in fiscal fourth-quarter revenue to $10.32 billion, driven by a decline in handset sales despite strong growth in automotive chips.

Read the full article at wsj.com

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