2026-08-26
Residents of Piketon, Ohio are weighing the promise of thousands of jobs against environmental and health concerns over a $500 billion AI data center project backed by OpenAI, Nvidia and Japanese investors on the site of a decommissioned uranium enrichment plant, The Guardian reported Tuesday. Piketon Mayor Billy Spencer, who has held the post for 23 years, said local feelings about the project range from positive to skeptical, with no organized opposition but also little organized enthusiasm in the Appalachian community of 2,700 people.
2026-08-25
Ken Paxton, the Trump-backed Republican running for U.S. Senate in Texas, posted a four-point "Texas first" datacenter plan on X on Monday, with a graphic the platform flagged as "Made with AI." An Annenberg Public Policy Center survey released last month found 61% of Americans now oppose new datacenter construction in their area, up from 49% in March. Paxton's race against Democrat James Talarico has tightened ahead of November, with a Fox News poll in late July showing Talarico leading 51% to 48%.
2026-08-17
OpenAI has signed a 20-year, 10-gigawatt data-center lease in southern Ohio with SoftBank's SB Energy, according to The Wall Street Journal. Nvidia will backstop the project's first phase and serve as the exclusive chip provider for the first half of the campus.