Well, that was fast. One election night, and the AI infrastructure story has a new plot twist.

Dan Ives, the technology analyst and Yorkville Ives & Co. partner and senior managing director, said Democratic control of Congress could slow the US artificial-intelligence buildout. His estimate: 10% of planned data centers "will not happen now."

A Blue Wave And A Seismic Shift

Ives said Wednesday that the "Democratic blue tidal wave across the Senate and House" represented a "seismic shift" for the AI infrastructure story. Democrats secured control of both chambers in Tuesday's midterm elections, according to the Associated Press. The party also scored gubernatorial wins, including Gina Hinojosa's defeat of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in Texas.

For the AI trade, Ives said the result "will have a negative impact on the pace of the AI Revolution buildout in the US over the next few years." The country has been planning somewhere between 800 and 1,000 data centers, and that pipeline now looks shakier.

"We estimate 10% of datacenters will not happen now," Ives wrote on X. He added that some investors may actually welcome a slower construction pace, while others will see it as added risk. Pick your camp.

Thorne Says Not So Fast

Not everyone is ready to write the obituary for the AI investment cycle. James E. Thorne, chief market strategist at Wellington-Altus, pushed back on the idea that slower construction ends the party.

"Expect the doomer narrative to shift: America won't build the data centers, and the AI trade is over. Wrong on both counts," Thorne wrote on X.

He also offered a macro twist: slower data-center construction, combined with an end to the Iran war, would be positive for bringing inflation down. That's one way to spin a slowdown.

Economist Peter Schiff took a different angle entirely, framing the Democratic victory as a judgment on President Donald Trump's economic record. Schiff called the election a "referendum on Trump," saying voters felt economic hardship while Trump had been "boasting of a booming economy."

Gerstner Saw The Capacity Risk Coming

Ives wasn't the first to wave a yellow flag. Altimeter Capital CEO Brad Gerstner said on the All-In Podcast election-night livestream that 10 to 15 gigawatts of expected data-center capacity could fail to come online.

"I think it's going to be really challenging for the AI infra," Gerstner said.

Still, Gerstner doesn't think America is packing up and going home on AI. He called it a global race, and he doesn't expect the US to retreat from it.

Meanwhile, The Market Shrugs

For all the hand-wringing, the stock market doesn't seem to have gotten the memo. The S&P 500 index has advanced 10.36% year-to-date. The Nasdaq Composite index was up 9.19%, and the Dow Jones gained 7.04% YTD.

On Tuesday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ), which track the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 respectively, closed mixed. SPY rose 0.30% to $754.35, while QQQ advanced 0.62% to $685.28. The Dow tracker, State Street SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA), ended 0.44% lower at $517.06.

In premarket trading on Wednesday, SPY was up 1.12%, QQQ advanced 0.35%, and DIA rose 2.10%. So much for the panic.