Elon Musk suffers midterm blow as SpaceX, Tesla plummet: My election-interfering space lasers didnt work
Elon Musk suffered a significant blow as Dems won big in the midterms – including pivotal seats in Texas – in spite of millions of dollars he poured into campaigns for Republicans he hoped would green light his ambitious data center projects. Shares of SpaceX and Tesla plummeted 2.5% and 3.3%, respectively, Wednesday morning after James Talarico made history as the first Democrat elected to the US Senate from Texas since 1988 and three-term Gov.Greg Abbott lost re-election in a shocking flip to Rep.
Gina Hinojosa.Both of Musk’s firms are headquartered in Texas, where tech giants have been flocking for tax advantages and data center-friendly policies.Musk – the world’s richest person with a roughly $880 billion net worth, according to Forbes – has been building out multiple gigawatts of data center capacity in the state.He spent a record $474 million backing Republican candidates in the midterm elections, including a jaw-dropping $224 million in Texas alone – a sign of his concerns that blue policies in the state could stifle his AI profits. “Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now,” Musk deadpanned in an overnight post on X, nodding to a Democratic push for data center moratoriums across the country. “Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn’t work this time,” he jokingly added in a later post. The Lone Star State has grown into a data center hotspot thanks to more relaxed business and energy regulations, tax incentives and abundant land.
About 27% of the US’ planned data center gigawatts are located in Texas, according to Wells Fargo. But that could all change if Dems – who will have commanding majorities of both chambers of Congress come January – pass moratoriums on data center construction, possibly slowing plans for 800 to 1,000 data center projects across the US, according to Dan Ives, partner at Yorkville Ives & Co. “There is no way to sugarcoat that Democrats taking control especially over ...