Wall Street’s $4.7 trillion meltdown may have a silver lining

Updated November 9, 2026 — 12:40pm,first published 12:00pm

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The “blue tsunami” that destroyed Republican control of Congress last week may have a silver lining for some of the key companies caught up in the scramble for artificial intelligence supremacy and for investors exposed to what appeared to be a swelling bubble.

The $US3.2 trillion ($4.7 trillion) meltdown on Wall Street last Thursday, as the implications of the Democrats’ control of both chambers of Congress sank in, was dominated by AI-related stocks.

That’s because AI, and data centres in particular, were high on the list of the issues targeted by the successful Democrat candidates. They capitalised on a rising tide of discontent from voters unhappy with the impact of the centres on their neighbourhoods, their power charges and their water supplies.

Even more inimical to the interests of the AI sector than the shift in the composition of Congress, which might write new and more intrusive rules for the governance of AI and the build out of data centres, was the success the Democrats had at the gubernatorial level.

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Stephen BartholomeuszSenior business columnist

Senior business columnist

Before the elections, there were 26 Republican governors and 24 Democrats leading their states. Post-elections, there will be 30 Democrat and 20 Republicans governors.

In Texas, the epicentre of data centre developments – between 25 per cent and 30 per cent of all the centres being built or on the drawing boards are in the state – there is now a newly-elected Democrat senator and a new Democrat governor, both of whom campaign against unfettered data centre development.

If the build out of data centres slows, so will the pace of AI development more broadly.

Data centre construction was already a bottleneck for AI, one that was starting to squeeze as local opposition to their construction intensified.

The growth rate of data........

© The Age