Publicity, politics, power, and pushback: Takeaways from the AI Infra Summit 2026

Last week, thousands of innovators gathered in Santa Clara, CA to discuss the most relevant — and most controversial — topic of the day: where to build data centers, and how.

The AI Infra Summit collected builders, power suppliers, hardware OEMs, and data center operators in one place to discuss the state of the industry. In a world where everybody hates data centers, does public sentiment matter? Is power still a bottleneck? And what is actually required to get a data center online quickly?

We spoke to almost a dozen experts across the industry to answer these questions, spanning neo-cloud innovators, real estate developers, and builders of powered land. They told us what they’ve seen over the past few months, where the industry is going, and what challenges still remain.

Developers are now leading with transparency

In the past, one method for avoiding pushback was through Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), one-off LLCs through which developers undertook early-stage development. In 2023, the newly-minted Liames, LLC started buying land in Ohio for an anonymous project. A few months later, the company revealed itself to be a subsidiary of Meta, building a massive new data center. The neighboring community immediately pushed back, citing the closed-door maneuvering as a shady business practice that destroyed trust.

That fight has played out in dozens of counties, and communities have wised up. Today, the SPV game no longer works. With rising concerns about transparency from local residents, developers are telling Spark that honesty now is the best policy.

The new strategy is to show up early and show up often. Developers want their faces and names to be known long before a shovel hits the ground. They may be able to put off a concern temporarily by running it through a shell company, but eventually, they’ll have to reveal themselves. Better to do it early and hear concerns right away than to let the community turn against the project before they even hear an argument in its favor.

The fight has moved from the grassroots to the planning commission

Navigating local decisions requires intimate knowledge of each county’s and each township’s politics. The ultimate decision-makers are members of town boards and county commissions: ordinary people, with small staffs and limited campaigns. And it only takes one or two swing votes to approve a new data center near thousands of residents.

Zoning is now more important than ever. Zoning and permitting are no longer static processes written into law; mere rumors of a new data center can push a domino that changes the entire zoning code for a county.

To accurately predict future decisions, it’s vitally important to stay up to date with just a few key individuals in each county. One commissioner’s decision to vote against a rezoning, or to implement a moratorium, can terminate a billion-dollar project. And that information tends to be limited online, not something a Google search or Claude prompt can easily find.

Power remains a constraint, but solutions are getting innovative

For years, the constraint on new data centers has been grid capacity. These facilities require immense amounts of power, and the American grid is often unable to supply it. The power constraint has only become more present in the minds of the average American as affordability continues to raise questions. Will a new data center near me put strain on my grid and push up my power prices?

These questions have slowed data center construction, which can cost builders millions. Billions of dollars of investment were thrown into question when Texas governor Greg Abbott paused data center approvals while he evaluated their impact on the grid. To get online quickly, developers need another path to power.

The result: an explosion in behind-the-meter electricity. Developers will often be agnostic to the source; renewables, gas, even nuclear are all fair game. But for a developer, the key now is how to get (1) a lot of power, (2) fast, and (3) without disrupting communities.

Pushback still matters, but now requires deeper digging

Everyone knows that local opposition has surged against data centers. Even in areas with a previously positive view of construction, such as Parker County, TX, the tide has turned over the past year as concerns rose about water usage, electricity usage, and tax abatements.

But if sentiment is negative everywhere, does sentiment matter at all?

The experts we spoke to agreed that it was still important — but in a different way than it was just a few months ago. Previously, developers targeted supportive counties for their new projects. Now, they need to use a finer-toothed comb. Which counties, even if they are negative, might be open to a conversation? Which ones are completely closed off? And where are local commissioners more or less vulnerable to grassroots pushback?

It’s no longer possible to avoid hotspots and build elsewhere. Developers need to be smart about what pushback actually entails and how it can be navigated.

Moving forward

The future of data centers is uncertain. Between concerned communities, growing capital investment, and local decision-makers stuck in the middle, navigating local permitting has never been more important. Across 3,000 counties in America, that’s no easy task.

It’s unusual, but the biggest question in American politics might come down to one or two swing votes on rural county commissions. The developers who can navigate those votes will be the ones who will get online fastest — while staying in touch with the community.

Working on data centers, load growth, or energy infrastructure? At Spark, we're building software and agents to get permits, political intel, and sentiment data fast. Starting with the permitting intelligence that the buildout now demands. We’d love to trade notes.