Virginia Governor Signs Executive Order Tightening Oversight of Data Centers and Launching AI Task Force

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger has issued an executive order aimed at reshaping how data centers are approved and regulated across the state, while also creating a new body to guide the government’s approach to artificial intelligence risks. The move could give local communities greater influence over data center development in a state that hosts one of the densest concentrations of such facilities in the world.

What the order does

Under Executive Order 22, officials in the state’s executive branch are barred from signing non-disclosure agreements tied to data center projects — a practice that critics say has kept residents in the dark about what is being built in their communities. The order also directs the state to move quickly on noise regulations and calls for a review of the backup generators that data centers rely on, which have been a recurring source of complaints in neighborhoods near large facilities.

The order additionally establishes an AI task force charged with evaluating how Virginia’s government should respond to risks that artificial intelligence poses to the state’s residents. Together, the measures signal a more cautious posture toward the infrastructure buildout and AI adoption that have made Northern Virginia a global hub for cloud computing.

Industry context

The order lands amid heightened scrutiny nationwide of the power, noise, and land demands of AI-driven data center expansion. For technology companies with significant operational footprints in Virginia — where much of the internet’s backbone runs through Loudoun County facilities — new state and local review requirements could affect how quickly projects move from proposal to operation. That matters across the broader technology sector, from semiconductor-adjacent analytics firms like PDF Solutions to infrastructure-heavy platform companies such as Block, all of which depend in various ways on the compute capacity that Virginia’s data center corridor provides.

Shares of PDF Solutions closed at $47.15, down 1.44% from the previous close of $47.84, while Block edged up 0.17% to $77.03 — a modest day across the sector as regulatory developments in key infrastructure states continue to draw attention.

Virginia’s stance may also influence other state governments weighing how to balance the economic benefits of data center investment against community concerns over noise, energy use, and transparency in the permitting process.

Source: original release

What to watch

• Implementation of the NDA ban and expedited noise regulations by Virginia state agencies
• Findings from the review of data center backup-generation operations
• The composition and first recommendations of the newly established AI task force
• How local governments in Loudoun County and elsewhere adjust data center approval processes in response