Following New York State, the city of Chicago is pursuing a temporary moratorium on data center construction.

In a statement on the 11th local time, the city of Chicago announced, "Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order calling for stricter regulatory reviews on data centers and a temporary moratorium on data center construction."

The temporary moratorium requires approval from the City Council.

Democratic and left-leaning members make up an overwhelming majority of the Chicago City Council.

The city government explained that if the City Council reviews and approves the moratorium, it plans to replace it with legislation enacting a temporary moratorium on the construction of new data centers and the substantial expansion of existing facilities.

Democratic Mayor Johnson emphasized, "Chicago will not tolerate the depletion of water resources, soaring energy costs, and damage to community health caused by reckless development."

The city of Chicago stated that 39 data centers are currently operating in the city, but did not disclose the number of data center construction projects currently underway.

Previously, Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a one-year statewide moratorium on data centers last month, the first of its kind in the U.S.

This came amid fierce backlash from local residents over noise, rising electricity bills, and water resource depletion caused by the surge in data center construction projects driven by soaring AI demand.

President Donald Trump previously criticized the New York governor's moratorium declaration on social media, calling it a "terrible decision" and demanding its retraction.

It is estimated that there are currently about 1,500 data center projects underway across the United States.

The New York Times reported that over the past year, 15 state legislatures have considered measures to ban the additional construction of data centers.

The data center construction boom is also emerging as a major variable in the U.S. midterm elections.

(Photo: Yonhap News)