Editorial companion

What stands out

Maureen Farrell highlights that the AI-driven buildout of data centers is colliding with a practical wall: money and local politics. Rising interest rates, community opposition, and permitting delays are raising costs and timelines just as companies need trillions of dollars to finish projects, and Farrell says that will likely force developers to tap public markets, markets that are increasingly resistant to data-center IPOs. The clip captures a turning point: promise of explosive demand running up against the financing and regulatory realities that decide which projects actually get built.