The BuildJune 29, 2026via Financial Times Technology
AI wakes up the sleepy US power sector
Why it matters
AI data center buildout is creating a critical infrastructure bottleneck. Companies are racing to secure energy capacity, signaling that compute constraint has shifted from chips to power—a fundamental shift in how AI leaders must think about scaling.
Key signals
- US power sector experiencing dealmaking activity spike tied to AI data center energy demands
- Energy infrastructure identified as limiting factor for data center expansion
- Shift from GPU/chip constraints to power grid constraints as primary bottleneck
- Multiple companies competing for limited energy capacity allocations
- Published June 2026 indicates forward-looking infrastructure race ongoing
The hook
The power grid wasn't built for AI. Now the entire US energy sector is in a dealmaking blitz to catch up.
Companies in dealmaking blitz as they seek to build the energy infrastructure for data centres