• The value of tech stocks has plummeted around the world amid fears of a slowdown in AI development

• It comes after the US midterm elections, won by the Democrats, where data centres became a key issue for voters – BBC Verify looks at polling data

• Tech bosses and investors have dominated the AI narrative for so long – could voters now prove to be the pin that bursts the bubble, asks our technology and AI editor

• The Nasdaq index, of the largest tech firms listed in the US, was down by more than 5.5% on Thursday; Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 6.3% earlier; and the UK’s FTSE 100 index has fallen by 1.6%

• Despite its dramatic drop, Nasdaq is still higher now than it was last November and 4.6% above its position at the start of the year – take a look at this chart

• Tudor Brown, a UK tech founder, tells the BBC there were “jitters” around “infinite AI growth” before the midterms. He says there’s “a lot of money still being made in these companies and we’ll start to see it coming back a bit”

Image source,Reuters

As we’ve been reporting, a number of Democrats campaigned on reining in the acceleration of AI and the rapid construction of data centres in the recent midterm elections.

Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk – who has long invested in AI products – poured cash into Republican campaigns. He spent nearly $450m (£334m) – more than anyone has ever spent in an election cycle – on backing Republican political candidates.

This includes millions he spent supporting the losing Republican candidate in the Senate race in Texas, Ken Paxton – the state is home to the corporate headquarters of both SpaceX and Tesla.

Texas’s new governor-elect, Democrat Gina Hinojosa, has called for a ban on approvals for building new data centres in the state until at least January.

“Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now,” Musk wrote on X on Wednesday. Stocks in both SpaceX and Tesla were among those falling on Thursday.

A former close colleague of Musk’s at Tesla, Peter Bardenfleth-Hansen, says it has “been an expensive couple of days” for his old boss.

He tells BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “He’s definitely paying the price for again being so closely associated with Trump.”