Electricity companies across the U.S. are struggling to figure out how much demand will actually materialize from the artificial intelligence boom, as the stock market speculates that vast sums of money will be spent on infrastructure to support a big data center buildout.
“There is a question about whether or not all of the projections, if they’re real,” Willie Phillips, who served as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from 2023 until April 2025, told CNBC. “There are some regions who have projected huge increases, and they have readjusted those back.”
The AI companies are rolling out ambitious plans to build server farms that in some cases would consume as much electricity as entire cities. But the tech industry is shopping the same big projects around to multiple utilities as they look for the quickest access to power.
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Electricity companies across the U.S. are struggling to figure out how much demand will actually materialize from the artificial intelligence boom, as the stock market speculates that vast sums of money will be spent on infrastructure to support a big data center buildout.
“There is a question about whether or not all of the projections, if they’re real,” Willie Phillips, who served as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from 2023 until April 2025, told CNBC. “There are some regions who have projected huge increases, and they have readjusted those back.”
The AI companies are rolling out ambitious plans to build server farms that in some cases would consume as much electricity as entire cities. But the tech industry is shopping the same big projects around to multiple utilities as they look for the quickest access to power.
More details: [https://cnb.cx/4ouBKoy](https://cnb.cx/4ouBKoy)
Question of the century imho.