OpenAI CFO Says Data Centre Build-Out Will Continue After Voters Reject Projects

"When I think about the midterms, I need to keep thinking about how do we keep investing to meet that customer demand," Friar told CNBC's Sara Eisen at the Citi TMT Leadership Summit in Pebble Beach, California. If the vote brings more attention to data centres, she said, OpenAI will "keep doing the work to get into those communities."

The elections were the clearest test yet of local opposition to AI infrastructure. Data centres were on the ballot in 41 local measures across 10 states. Voters backed restrictions or rejected pro-development measures in all but one, according to a Ballotpedia analysis and further results gathered by CNBC. OpenAI's growth depends on finding land, power and local approval for very large computing campuses, so the backlash goes to the core of its plans. Investor nerves were already showing: on Thursday the Nasdaq had its steepest fall in 19 months, led by chipmakers and neocloud companies tied to the AI build-out.

A Compact for Host Communities

On Thursday, OpenAI published a National Community Compact and a Compute Campus Policy Blueprint. Under the commitments, as reported, OpenAI will pay the full cost of power and grid infrastructure for future campuses it owns and operates, so that nearby residents do not face higher utility rates. Mayors and city councils will no longer have to sign non-disclosure agreements before reviewing its proposals. The company will publish site plans, noise studies, expected water demand and basic financial details for residents, and each future campus it owns and operates will have its own local compact.

The blueprint is addressed to lawmakers. It asks states to adopt similar ground rules for the whole industry and to protect ordinary utility customers. The pledges apply only to sites OpenAI owns and operates. Much of the computing capacity the company depends on is developed and run by partners, and the pledges do not cover it.

Friar's comments suggest the backlash has not changed OpenAI's spending plans. "The demand for AI is real," she said. Asked about fundraising, she said that "a good CFO always raises money when she can."

The company has closed an initial $11 billion of a new funding round, which CNBC confirmed after Bloomberg first reported it, and could raise up to another $9 billion in the coming weeks. OpenAI confidentially filed its prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June. Friar said the company is still considering a 2027 listing and that the midterms had not changed that.

The timing contrasts with Anthropic, which aims to list on Nasdaq in mid-November. Its prospectus shows revenue of $33.2 billion for the first nine months of the year, up about 1,200%, and about $895.4 billion in total committed spending on compute and infrastructure, according to CNBC.

The local pledges are already being tried out. OpenAI has said its planned campus in Effingham County, Georgia, will fund free school lunches for 14,000 students and help Georgia Power manage peak demand on the grid. In Pike County, Ohio, it is putting $6 million, together with SB Energy, into local childcare programmes, according to Android Headlines.