Skepticism on Wall Street about Data Center Build Out

According to a report by Maureen Farrell in The New York Times, Wall Street's unbridled enthusiasm for artificial intelligence is running into a harsh reality check as mounting public backlash and execution risks cause companies powering the data center boom to delay their initial public offerings. Energy-intensive data infrastructure providers—including SoftBank subsidiary SB Energy, which delayed its target $50 billion IPO, and nuclear energy supplier Holtec, which paused its offering indefinitely—are meeting stiff resistance from skeptical investors questioning sky-high valuations and long-term delivery timelines. While tech giants like Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon are still committing over a trillion dollars to infrastructure, local bipartisan pushback against massive power-guzzling facilities, rising interest rates, and regulatory friction across various states are complicating plans to tap public markets, forcing dealmakers to recalibrate even as long-term compute demand remains massive.