Image: A Meta data center in Gallatin, Tennessee, was opened in 2024. Image Credit: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout & Canva.
***Note from The Tennessee Conservative – this article posted here for informational purposes only. Per The Tennessee Lookout’s republishing guidelines, this article has been edited for writing style & length.
Article by Adam Friedman [Tennessee Lookout -CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] –
America’s leading artificial intelligence companies started lobbying in Tennessee this year amid growing backlash to data centers and cameras using the technology.
At least 11 companies tied to artificial intelligence and data centers have hired lobbyists in Tennessee, newly filed records with the state ethics board show.
Anthropic, OpenAI, the Data Center Coalition, and the AI venture capital firm Andressean Horowitz are contracting with lobbyists in 2026 for the first time, joining companies such as Amazon, Axon Enterprises, Google, Flock Safety, Meta, Oracle, and Salesforce, which already have significant AI ties and were lobbying state lawmakers.
The disclosures don’t show how much money companies like OpenAI, which owns ChatGPT, and Anthropic, which owns Claude, are paying yet, but they indicate the companies plan to start lobbying lawmakers ahead of the January legislative session.
Brendan Glavin, director of insights with OpenSecrets, said some of the lobbying could relate to AI regulation but that it’s more likely to focus on data centers. OpenSecrets is a nonprofit that tracks political spending at the state and federal level.
The companies enter Tennessee’s legislative landscape as the debate over data center expansion has led some local communities to impose moratoriums on construction because of concerns that they’re driving electricity price increases and environmental impacts.
“AI interests need to be active at the state level to counter the rising anti-data center movement,” Glavin said. “This was likely barely on their radar not that long ago.”
In recent years, Tennessee has become a hub for technology company investments, including AI and non-AI projects.
Google opened a data center in Clarksville in 2019, and Meta opened a Gallatin facility in 2024, the same year SpaceXAI opened in Memphis. Amazon opened a second headquarters in Nashville in 2023, and Oracle plans to join them with a campus in the coming years.
SpaceXAI has not hired any lobbyists, according to the ethics commission’s database.
Along with the data center backlash, state Rep. Aftyn Behn, a Nashville Democrat, has called on Tennessee officials to pause its tax breaks for data centers.
Brendan Glavin, director of insights with OpenSecrets, said some of the lobbying could relate to AI regulation but that it’s more likely to focus on data centers. OpenSecrets is a nonprofit that tracks political spending at the state and federal level.
The companies enter Tennessee’s legislative landscape as the debate over data center expansion has led some local communities to impose moratoriums on construction because of concerns that they’re driving electricity price increases and environmental impacts.
“AI interests need to be active at the state level to counter the rising anti-data center movement,” Glavin said. “This was likely barely on their radar not that long ago.”
In recent years, Tennessee has become a hub for technology company investments, including AI and non-AI projects.
Google opened a data center in Clarksville in 2019, and Meta opened a Gallatin facility in 2024, the same year SpaceXAI opened in Memphis. Amazon opened a second headquarters in Nashville in 2023, and Oracle plans to join them with a campus in the coming years.
SpaceXAI has not hired any lobbyists, according to the ethics commission’s database.
Along with the data center backlash, state Rep. Aftyn Behn, a Nashville Democrat, has called on Tennessee officials to pause its tax breaks for data centers.
Tennessee offers several incentives for data center construction and exempts data processing services from its sales tax. The state Department of Finance and Administration estimates the processing exemption resulted in nearly $110 million in tax savings for those companies in 2026-27.
One Response
Lobbying; Buying crooked legislators.