Wall Street is now incorporating local opposition as a risk factor in its stock recommendations for AI infrastructure projects. Bank of America has started evaluating community support as a criterion to determine whether data center projects can actually move forward. In the first quarter of 2026 alone, 75 projects worth approximately $130 billion were blocked or delayed by local opposition, matching the total disruptions recorded throughout all of 2025. In July 2026, 142 protests took place across 42 states and at least 15 states were considering moratoriums on data center construction. Meanwhile, hyperscalers are projecting $710 billion in North American data center spending for 2026, a gap between ambition and local tolerance that is pushing Wall Street to recalibrate its financial models.
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