Daily Tech Notes for September 2, 2026

Context is everything, especially when talking about data center growth and the movement to stop them. By one measure, it would seem the public backlash is putting a significant dent in data center growth. Politicians in Pennsylvania, Texas, and Ohio are running from data centers as voter backlash grows. Data center projects are being canceled in record numbers, with the number surging since January. 

So the anti-data-center uprising in winning? Well, not exactly according to a story published by Vox on Tuesday. From the piece: “There are two fundamental facts about today’s data center boom: 1) The backlash against it is huge, and 2) the buildout is even bigger.”

It notes that while moratoria are growing, still 90 percent of U.S. counties have no restrictions on data center builds. More notably, while the first quarter of 2026 saw 3.5 GW of data center capacity were canceled, 36 GW were added to the construction pipeline. 

Finally, investing continues to soar. Monthly spending on data center projects in the most recent month of 2026 for which data is available was $4.4 billion. That’s up $1.2 billion from December 2025. 

Why is the growth ongoing? In part because communities are willing to negotiate. A Politico story reports on the growing popularity of Community Benefit Agreements. These agreements, abbreviated as CBAs, are written commitments from data center developers and companies to “cement pollution limits, hiring commitments and local investment promises.” 

That technology is changing Virginians’ lives and work is a given. But how? Daily Tech Notes examines the new ventures, educational opportunities, and public ways companies and individuals are leveraging technology to write the commonwealth’s future.