GOP Rep. Rob Bresnahan campaigns on data center limits while investing in industry

Pennsylvania Rep. Rob Bresnahan is promoting a bill to give data center-wary municipalities greater control over whether the facilities can be built, a message featured in a new television ad the Republican congressman is running in the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre area.

But in the past, Bresnahan has taken an overtly friendly stance toward data centers, calling them potential "catalysts for economic growth" in Northeastern Pennsylvania last year.

And he continues to hold investments in a range of companies positioned to benefit from the industry's continued growth. Those include firms that own and operate data centers, invest in their development and supply infrastructure, and many of the nation's largest tech firms.

Bresnahan's campaign did not answer questions about his stock holdings, but campaign spokesperson Samantha Bullock said in a statement: "Favoring local control over data center development does not make someone anti-investment. It shows that they support the will of the people, and in fact it is important and responsible to consider the blue-collar jobs and economic development that might benefit a region like Northeastern Pennsylvania when addressing and legislating this issue."

Many of Bresnahan's holdings are in large companies that are part of the S&P 500 and other major stock indices, and the tech and data center-related investments make up just part of his multimillion-dollar investment portfolio. Bresnahan has repeatedly said financial advisers manage his portfolio and he has no input in his trades.

According to a financial disclosure filed in August, Bresnahan owns between roughly $19,005 and $110,000 worth of stock in four companies with direct ties to the data center industry.

Among them are Equinix, Digital Realty Trust and Iron Mountain, which operate large-scale data centers. Bresnahan also owns stock in SBA Communications, a wireless communications company whose subsidiary SBA Edge operates a handful of regional data centers and deploys small, modular data centers.

Bresnahan's portfolio also includes investments in companies that supply the chips, networking equipment, semiconductor manufacturing tools and software that underpin the rapid growth of artificial intelligence and data centers. According to his financial disclosure, those holdings are worth between roughly $804,024 and $2.04 million.

Those investments include stakes in NVIDIA, Advanced Micro Devices, Micron Technology, Arista Networks, Ciena, Applied Materials, Lam Research, Cadence Design Systems, Synopsys, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Cisco Systems, Broadcom Inc. and Credo Technology. Politico first reported his purchase of Credo stock in January.

And Bresnahan reported holdings in several of the large technology companies driving the industry's expansion. His disclosure shows between roughly $777,000 and $1.78 million invested in major technology firms that build, operate or lease large amounts of data center capacity.