AI data center stocks fell Wednesday after Democrats won majorities in both the Senate and the House in Tuesday's midterm elections, as investors weighed the prospect of tighter rules on where and how AI infrastructure gets built. CoreWeave dropped as much as 3.2% in premarket trading, Applied Digital fell 3% and Nebius slipped 1.3%.
Oracle traded down about 1.2% before the open, giving back part of Tuesday's 5.85% gain. The company recently priced a combined $20 billion stock and debt offering to fund its AI buildout. In intraday trading, Nvidia fell 2.19% to $202.17, testing support near $200, and Intel dropped 5.80% to $57.04. Meta also declined.
The selloff was not uniform across big tech. Microsoft climbed 6.01% to $552.32 and Alphabet rose 4.63% to $292.99. The Nasdaq-100 gained 1.14% to 28,500, recovering from an overnight move that briefly pushed index futures down more than 2%. The index remains well below its October highs above 31,000.
Key facts
- 01CoreWeave fell as much as 3.2% premarket Wednesday; Applied Digital dropped 3% and Nebius 1.3%.
- 02Democrats won majorities in both the Senate and House in Tuesday's midterm elections.
- 03Texas and Georgia account for roughly one-third of AI data center spending and projects; both saw Democratic wins for governor.
- 04Microsoft rose 6.01% to $552.32 and Alphabet 4.63% to $292.99, while Nvidia slipped 2.19% to $202.17.
- 05The Goldman Sachs Broad AI basket fell 15% in October and sat more than 24% below its peak.
The geography of the results is what has data center investors focused. Texas and Georgia together account for roughly one-third of all AI data center spending and projects, and both states saw Democratic wins at the governor level. Democrats also flipped other traditionally Republican-leaning states, including Kansas, and several Democratic governors-elect have said they support more AI regulation.
Local permitting was already a constraint before the vote. At least 45 data center projects worth $68 billion were disrupted by local opposition in the second quarter of 2026, according to Data Center Watch.
Evercore ISI analysts led by Amit Daryanani wrote that a more restrictive data center development environment could create incrementally more negative sentiment. They expected the first reaction to be selling AI names, with the open question being how much the election changes the sector's fundamentals.
The election landed on a sector that was already under pressure. The Goldman Sachs Broad AI basket fell 15% in October and was down more than 24% from its peak heading into Wednesday's session.
Any AI or data center legislation passed by the new Democratic majorities would still need President Trump's signature to become law.
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