David Sacks: AI data center pipeline may close by 2028

David Sacks's warning on the All-In podcast adds a permitting-focused lens to the AI infrastructure debate. He argued that the biggest danger is breaking ground and then getting enjoined or stopped by a worker strike or community group, and that governors in the largest data center states are "basically indicating that they favor a moratorium" until certain conditions are met. That view is a forecast, and proposed moratoriums can be narrowed, delayed, or dropped.

The dependency chain matters because each company in it is posting growth that assumes expansion continues. Broadcom's chief executive made the same point on the company's September call: before chips go out, the data center shell must be in place. If buildings stall, chip, networking, and cooling orders slow down after them, which is why Vertiv's 12-to-18-month order lead time is an early signal.

Counterpoints exist. Vertiv's chief executive called power, permitting, and labor pacing items that "are not slowing down growth," and NVIDIA expects fiscal 2028 revenue growth of approximately 70%, limited by supply rather than demand. Top-five hyperscaler capex of nearly $800 billion in 2026 and $1.3 trillion in 2027 underscores the scale of spending that permitting outcomes could affect.