HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania — In June 2025, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) stood in Berwick and described a new economic horizon for Pennsylvania: Amazon's plan to invest at least $20 billion in cloud-computing and artificial intelligence campuses across the commonwealth.

"Pennsylvania is competing again — and I'm proud to announce that, with Amazon's commitment of at least $20 billion to build new state-of-the-art data center campuses across our Commonwealth, we have secured the largest private-sector investment in the history of Pennsylvania," Shapiro said at the time.

Pennsylvania was "all in on AI," he added, while casting the state as a major national hub for AI and next-generation technology.

Shapiro also pointed to Pennsylvania's position as a major energy-producing state and a leading net electricity exporter. These assets, he argued, could support the power-intensive computing facilities behind AI and cloud services.

Amazon said its investment would create at least 1,250 permanent, high-paying technology jobs, along with thousands of construction and supply-chain jobs.

The announcement carried a larger promise. Pennsylvania intended to compete — for construction work, permanent jobs, a local tax base, and a stake in an economy increasingly built around data.

The Commonwealth had already created a mechanism to help make that pitch. Shapiro's PA Permit Fast Track Program, launched in late 2024, was intended to coordinate and speed state reviews for major infrastructure and economic-development projects.

This week, however, the governor reversed course and redefined the terms for data-center development.

Shapiro signed Executive Order 2026-05, immediately removing data-center projects from the PA Permit Fast Track Program and making future data-center proposals ineligible for expedited review. The order does not prohibit developers from building in Pennsylvania. But it does establish a more demanding framework for projects seeking state permits.

"Starting today," Shapiro said, "AI data center developers........

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