OpenAI and five unions join forces against data center moratoriums

OpenAI and five national unions launch the American Infrastructure Alliance on September 28, 2026, a coalition opposed to moratoriums that suspend data center development in the United States. Blackstone, QTS and SoftBank are also among the members named in the launch announcement.

The five national union members are IBEW, UA, SMART, HFIAW and Iron Workers. Electrical and pipe trades are among those represented.

The alliance announces initiatives in seven states: Texas, Georgia, Ohio, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Indiana and South Carolina.

Getting developers to fund infrastructure

Data centers house servers used for digital services, including artificial intelligence. Their operation requires electricity and cooling systems. The alliance calls on developers to fund the electricity and water infrastructure needed for their facilities, with the goal of preventing these expenses from being passed on to households and other users.

If a data center requires work on the network serving it, how that work is billed determines who pays for it. An expense charged to the developer is covered by the project. An expense recovered through rates charged to all users may be shared with households and other customers of the network. The alliance's position seeks to regulate this allocation of costs.

The alliance also calls for binding protections for residents and supports agreements on noise, lighting, construction work and distances from homes. It calls for transparency and oversight, as well as lasting benefits for host communities. The commitments it seeks would come on top of the obligations already applicable to the projects.

Engaging elected officials ahead of 2027

The alliance announces that it will publish detailed principles in the coming weeks. It plans to begin engaging elected officials before the 2027 legislative sessions, then continue during those sessions.