This comes as a growing run of project withdrawals and moratoriums is reshaping how capital is deployed across a sector already caught between fuelling economic growth and facing local fury.
Senior bankers told Reuters they are now scrutinising community sentiment alongside project readiness and credit quality when assessing loans, and are leaning towards developments in states seen as more welcoming to data centres.
The shift follows a wave of cancellations. Amazon Web Services withdrew its application for a 2.5 million square foot data centre project in Calvert County, Maryland, sited near the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, at a time when opposition to the development had grown, including a petition against the project that gathered more than 10,000 signatures. Neither AWS nor Calvert County has confirmed the withdrawal was linked to that opposition, but county officials are now preparing to consider a six-month moratorium on new data centre applications.
The Maryland withdrawal follows QTS’s decision in July to pull its $30 billion Digital Gateway project in Prince William County, Virginia. AWS pulled out of an earlier, larger project in Louisa County, Virginia, in 2025 after residents raised concerns over water use and land impact, establishing a precedent for the pattern now playing out across multiple states.
According to research firm Data Center Watch, at least 75 major data centre projects representing more than $130 billion in investment were delayed or cancelled in the first quarter of 2026 alone, with organised local opposition cited as a contributing factor.
Moody’s Ratings has separately warned that the pace of data centre expansion, which saw North America absorb a record 25GW of capacity in the first half of 2026, is straining electricity and water infrastructure to a degree that raises credit risk for the state and local governments hosting projects, noting that at least 14 states are considering statewide moratoriums in 2026 to pause and assess development impact. Not every state is moving to restrict development: Michigan and West Virginia have introduced incentives aimed at attracting data centre investment as other states pull back.
The trend echoes concerns raised earlier this year around the Central Texas data centre buildout, where community groups and public health researchers have questioned water consumption, grid strain and the use of non-disclosure agreements and code names during site acquisition.
As lenders begin factoring community opposition into deal terms, that scrutiny may increasingly extend beyond individual projects to the underwriting process itself.
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