Sept. 1, 2026
— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs
Betting against Blackstone is not a good idea. Taking on the team of Blackstone and PPL in the battle over data centers may be impossible.
Billions of dollars are at stake, and Blackstone and PPL tend to get what they want.
PPL (NYSE:PPL), the Allentown-based energy company that delivers electricity, is big, with a market capitalization of about $26 billion.
For those who aren’t familiar with Blackstone, its market capitalization is $164 billion.
Last year, PPL announced a joint venture with Blackstone (NYSE:BX) to build gas-fired generators to provide power for data centers. That announcement was made at an event hosted by Sen. David McCormick (R-Pennsylvania) and Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, applauded the move. Quite a show of bipartisanship.
Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative asset manager, meaning it seeks returns in real estate, private equity, credit, hedge funds and more, but not stocks and bonds. The assets are not as liquid, requiring more research before buying and more work to sell when it’s time to get out.
Blackstone said it would invest more than $25 billion in the PPL venture, which is pursuing legal investment in a state where politicians from both parties have at times welcomed data centers. The recent public kickback has led to some retreating but take a look at reality.
On one side, PPL and Blackstone prepared to spend billions, with big technology companies such as Amazon, Google and the like on their side, all seeking capacity to serve the Artificial Intelligence market. They’ve done their homework and already spent billions in expectation of a return.
Big Tech can work on this issue 24 hours per day, running circles around City Hall and paying little mind to Facebook groups that oppose it.
On the other side, a lot of unhappy residents but so far not much organization. The private businesses move faster and can submit plans for centers before governments can update zoning laws.
In the middle, Pennsylvania politicians who as you may recall couldn’t do anything about the warehouse boom. Many of them are focused on getting re-elected, not public service, so they throw out nonsense such as plans to eliminate property taxes and somehow the voters let them get away with it.
It’s embarrassing how the state works: flog an issue, do nothing, flog the next issue. Warehouses? That’s old news. Data centers now, and who knows what is next? Does it matter?
Residents can oppose data centers all they want, but they face billion-dollar companies determined to get their way. David versus Goliath is a nice story but that ending was the exception.
The local concern about data centers and Artificial Intelligence is understandable but sometimes comes across as a bit naive, just as the uproar over warehouses has been. Maybe everybody is unhappy with a proposed land use, but that doesn’t matter.
Zoning law is what matters. When Bethlehem Township’s Board of Commissioners voted against a permitted warehouse on Freemansburg Avenue, developer CBRE took the township to court and won.
I have seen how Harrisburg works, and no matter what politicians say — and not all have been hypocrites on the issue — I’ll put my bets on Big Tech. Perhaps the state can find some middle ground, but over time money and the market win.
Disclosure: I own shares in PPL, Amazon, Google and other companies involved in data-center development. I bought them before they were known for AI and hyperscale centers.
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