In the northern Virginia town of Ashburn, the suburban quiet for its 40,000 residents is punctured by the constant hum of more than 150 data centres that power the AI revolution rewiring the US economy.
Dozens more are planned for this 40 sq km patch of land, known as “data centre alley”, which has become one of the most strategic infrastructure locations in America and the logic behind NextEra Energy’s $420bn tie-up with Dominion Energy unveiled on Monday. One of the largest mergers in US history would hand a single company enormous influence over the electricity network across the eastern seaboard underpinning the AI boom.
The merger captures a defining feature of President Donald Trump’s second term: the return of politically explosive megadeals once deemed unthinkable because of their size and impact on Americans. As Washington races to secure US dominance in AI, power generation has become both a strategic priority and a source of mounting political anger over surging energy prices.