When can a power company take your land for data center infrastructure?

US power companies are invoking eminent domain to seize private land for transmission lines serving data centres, raising fundamental questions about whether infrastructure built for private AI facilities qualifies as "public use" under constitutional law. The practice has triggered property-rights backlash and state regulatory variation, with courts now revisiting the scope of takings authority.

This Wire brief sits within Fusion42's coverage of AI Infrastructure and Cloud Infrastructure. Wire is Fusion42's founder-focused intelligence feed: each story is connected to the funds and startups it names — every one with a live profile on Raise or Scout — so founders can follow the capital and the momentum behind the headline rather than just the headline itself. Wire analysis is one of the live surfaces Arthur reasons over.