After the GOP suffered a major setback in the midterm elections, uncertainty has emerged around billionaire Elon Musk‘s data-center and AI ambitions in the U.S. However, one Lithuanian lawmaker is pitching his country as a potential European alternative to Texas.
Lithuanian Lawmaker Invites Musk to Move AI Infrastructure
Lithuanian lawmaker Matas Maldeikis, a member of the Homeland Union–Lithuanian Christian Democrats, invited Musk to consider Lithuania for his next major AI infrastructure investment in a post on X on Thursday. Maldeikis has served in the country’s parliament since 2020.
“Now that Texas may be preparing to show your data centers the exit, Lithuania is ready to offer them a new home in Europe,” Maldeikis said. He was “personally” inviting Musk to consider Lithuania as his “next major AI infrastructure investment.”
Maldeikis then said that “Lithuania may be smaller than Texas, but in ambition, creativity and opportunity, we are second to none. Not even Texas.”
He then said that Lithuania was open for “ambitious investments, disruptive ideas and powerful technology.” However, the MP outlined one condition for Musk’s compute buildout. “Here, democracy isn’t for sale,” he said.
Midterm Results Cast Doubt Over AI Development
The offer comes as the midterm election results, which saw the Democratic Party gain ground, cast doubts over the development of AI efforts, particularly in Texas, where both Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX) and Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) are headquartered.
Musk spent heavily backing Republicans in the midterm elections, including a $158 million donation to the Senate Leadership Fund, the main Republican Senate super PAC. The group subsequently transferred matching sums to Texas PAC, which supported Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton. Musk also separately donated $10 million to Lone Star Liberty PAC, another group supporting Paxton.
Notably, Senator-elect James Talarico, as well as Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa, have both expressed reservations about data centers. However, following the results, both Talarico and Hinojosa have indicated that they would be willing to work with tech companies to reach an agreement over data centers.
Price Action: TSLA shares were up 1.25% to $347.99 during overnight trading on Thursday, while SPCX shares also grew 2.32% to $126.49 during the overnight session.
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