AI-driven data center growth is colliding with a global shortage of transformers and grid equipment, causing years-long delays and soaring costs. The digital boom now depends on the slowest link in the chain: the industrial capacity to deliver power hardware.
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The Year the Grid Met AI: 2025 and the Collision Between Exponential Compute and Linear Infrastructure
Generative AI didn’t just increase electricity demand—it shattered planning assumptions. In 2025, utilities faced fast, concentrated load, broken forecasts, and new reliability risks, forcing a shift from passive supply to active stewardship of compute-driven infrastructure.
What’s Holding Utilities Back from Scaling the Grid for AI?
AI demand moves in months while grid infrastructure moves in years, creating a strategic mismatch. Unless utilities evolve from building capacity to orchestrating flexible demand, the grid becomes the bottleneck of the AI economy
