Goldman CEO watching for election-driven volatility around data centers

David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs, arrives for a state dinner held by US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump for Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, in Washington, D.C., US, September 24, 2026. REUTERS/Aaron Schwartz

NEW YORK, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said on Tuesday it would ⁠be interesting to watch for political volatility around AI centers ahead of ‌midterm elections.

Speaking at an analysts' call for quarterly earnings, he also said as the financing needs for AI projects grow and there is pressure on rates, it could affect the returns and the viability of certain projects.

"Localized ​political volatility around data centers. You know, we've got ⁠an election coming up. It'll be ⁠interesting to see," Solomon said.

"Obviously there's a lot of political discussion coming into an election, ⁠but ‌then you also have to see how states and localities act coming out of elections. All these things can create you know volatility, and there's uncertainty around ⁠them."

Data centers, which provide the computing power needed to train ​and run AI models, have ‌faced growing opposition from communities across the United States.

Residents have raised concerns about ⁠their rising electricity ​demand, the potential for higher utility bills and other environmental impacts on local communities.

The artificial intelligence buildout is on track to require a larger share of U.S. output than the rollout of electricity, ⁠railroads, interstate highways or the internet, with an increasingly ​complicated financial structure that poses potentially systemic risks, according to a new study.

The expansion will consume around 3.6% of gross domestic product annually through 2032, or more than $10 trillion, and is ⁠using ever more intricate financing arrangements, Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, a finance and real estate professor at Columbia Business School, wrote in a paper prepared for a Brookings Institution conference last month.

"There's going to be infrastructure built around it that's going to be quite significant," Goldman's Solomon.

"But ​we feel very well positioned to bring the full range ⁠of services and participate actively, and we still see an enormous amount of activity."

Goldman is ​a financial partner with Nvidia, which in August announced it has ‌partnered with six major financial institutions to launch ​compute platforms aimed at raising over $500 billion in third-party capital for AI infrastructure.

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar and Pritam Biswas; Editing by Mark Porter and Nick Zieminski)

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2026年9月24日，高盛首席执行官大卫·所罗门抵达美国华盛顿特区，出席美国总统唐纳德·特朗普和第一夫人梅拉尼娅·特朗普为中国国家主席习近平及其夫人彭丽媛举行的国宴。（路透社/Aaron Schwartz摄）

纽约，10 月 13 日（路透社）——高盛首席执行官大卫·所罗门周二表示，在中期选举前，人工智能中心周围的政治波动值得关注。

在与分析师举行的季度收益电话会议上，他还表示，随着人工智能项目的融资需求增长以及利率面临压力，这可能会影响某些项目的回报和可行性。

所罗门说：“数据中心周边地区存在局部政治动荡。你知道，我们即将迎来选举。看看结果会很有意思。”

“显然，选举前有很多政治讨论，但你也必须观察各州和地方政府在选举后会采取什么行动。所有这些因素都可能造成动荡，并带来不确定性。”

为训练和运行人工智能模型提供计算能力的数据中心，在美国各地面临着越来越大的社区反对。

居民们对不断增长的电力需求、可能上涨的电费以及对当地社区的其他环境影响表示担忧。

一项新的研究表明，人工智能建设所需美国产出的份额将超过电力、铁路、州际公路或互联网的推广，而且其金融结构日益复杂，可能带来系统性风险。

哥伦比亚商学院金融和房地产教授斯泰恩·范·尼乌韦尔伯格在上个月为布鲁金斯学会会议准备的一篇论文中写道，到 2032 年，经济扩张每年将消耗国内生产总值的 3.6% 左右，即超过 10 万亿美元，并且正在使用越来越复杂的融资安排。

“将会围绕它建设一些非常重要的基础设施，”高盛的所罗门说。

“但我们感觉自己已做好充分准备，能够提供全方位的服务并积极参与其中，而且我们仍然看到大量的活动。”

高盛是英伟达的金融合作伙伴。英伟达在 8 月份宣布，已与六家主要金融机构合作推出计算平台，旨在为人工智能基础设施筹集超过 5000 亿美元的第三方资金。

（Saeed Azhar 和 Pritam Biswas 报道；Mark Porter 和 Nick Zieminski 编辑）

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