Ohio suspends data center tax break as tech firms face pressure to pay the cost to power AI

Ohio calls time on data-center tax break after cost balloons to $1.5 billion, 11x the initial estimate |…

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine suspended the state's data center sales tax exemption after costs exploded to $1.6 billion in fiscal 2025 — 11x the $142 million projected — driven by $37 billion in data center investment over 2024–2025. With 38 states running similar incentives and Virginia also under pressure to cut its $1.6B annual break, location-strategy and TCO models for large-scale AI infrastructure now carry material policy risk that wasn't priced in two years ago.