Building up the US power grid won't be wasted, even if the AI bubble bursts
- ID
- 13007
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 11 Aug 2026, 6:31 PM
- Fetched
- 11 Aug 2026, 7:17 PM
- Provider
- The Register
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://www.theregister.com/on-prem/2026/08/11/building-up-the-us-power-grid-wont-be-wasted-even-if-the-ai-bubble-bursts/5285563
- Source URL
- https://www.theregister.com/headlines.atom
Summary
- Score
- 3.5
- Created
- 11 Aug 2026, 7:17 PM
- Tags
- Audience
- ai_ml_learnerssaas_startup_founders
What happened
McKinsey argues that US power companies should overbuild rather than underbuild grid capacity for datacenter demand, since even if AI compute growth slows, the infrastructure won't be stranded—EVs and industrial electrification will absorb it. Datacenters are projected to drive 75% of US power demand growth over the next decade, requiring ~30 GW of additional capacity annually, with a nationwide gap of 30-55 GW by 2030. Notably, 71% of organizations report 'negative implementation outcomes' from AI, and parts of the ecosystem show bubble-like characteristics.
Why it matters
The 71% negative AI implementation outcome figure is a useful reality check for anyone building AI-dependent products—budget for failure modes and don't assume your competitors' AI deployments are working smoothly. For Malaysian founders evaluating cloud infrastructure costs, the US grid capacity gap (30-55 GW by 2030) signals potential upward pressure on US-hosted compute pricing, which strengthens the case for evaluating regional cloud options or Southeast Asian datacenter providers.
Discussion angle
The 71% negative AI implementation stat versus the massive infrastructure bet—does this gap between adoption struggles and capital deployment suggest where the real opportunities are for builders who can actually ship working AI?