Kimmeridge warns nearly half of US data centers face delays amid growing political backlash

Nearly half of the data centers proposed across the United States are at risk of being delayed or scrapped entirely, according to Kimmeridge Energy Management Co. The investment firm’s warning lands at a moment when the gap between AI ambitions and physical infrastructure reality is becoming impossible to ignore. Kimmeridge managing partner Ben Dell laid out the case on August 26, pointing to a cocktail of political resistance, permitting gridlock, and construction challenges that threaten to slow the buildout that tech companies have been banking on. The numbers behind the slowdown Dell estimated that data centers could add 5 to 10 billion cubic feet per day to projected US natural gas demand growth, which already sits at roughly 30 Bcf/d, largely driven by LNG exports. If project delays pile up, AI-related demand could settle at the lower end of that range. The scale of disruption is already substantial. Community opposition has contributed to at least $170 billion worth of data center projects being delayed or cancelled between January 2024 and May 2026. Roughly 70% of Americans oppose new data centers being built in their local areas, according to Gallup. More than 500 US juris...