Energy has suddenly become the hottest business asset in America. Companies from Ford to tech giants are racing to secure electricity as artificial intelligence demands reshape the power industry in ways not seen before.
The shift is striking. What was once treated as a cheap commodity that flowed invisibly through data centers is now a scarce, coveted resource. Major corporations are either racing into the energy business themselves or desperately hunting for power supplies to feed their AI infrastructure. The stakes are enormous: whoever secures reliable electricity wins the AI economy.
Ford just launched Ford Energy, a new subsidiary built around a $2 billion business focused on energy storage for data centers and large power users. The automaker called the move a response to "massive demand for domestic energy storage." Its stock hit a three-year high on the announcement.
Wall Street is betting heavily on the trend. Bloom Energy, once dismissed as a niche player, has seen its stock price soar more than 1,200% in the past year. GE Vernova booked $2.4 billion in electric equipment orders for data centers in the first quarter alone, more than its total equivalent sales for all of last year. Fervo Energy, a geothermal startup, surged after going public this month as investors hunt for new electricity sources to feed the AI boom.
"The energy behind the intelligence is invisible to most people, but it's enormous," said Andy Power, president and CEO of Digital Realty, one of the world's largest data center operators. What's new, Power explained, isn't the need for power but the pace. Utilities are overwhelmed with applications and struggling to decide which projects get power first.
Yet danger lurks beneath the euphoria. A record number of data center projects were canceled in the first quarter after community backlash. Those canceled projects represented more than $40 billion in planned investment.
Opposition is intensifying over water consumption, air pollution, and noise. Some of the largest proposed projects may never get built. Brian Janous, Microsoft's first energy hire and now co-founder of Cloverleaf Infrastructure, warned that many companies chasing the AI power boom will lose money, not because electricity demand will vanish but because too many mega projects are competing for the same limited power sources.
He pointed to a troubled Texas proposal billed as the world's largest data center and a Utah project backed by celebrity investor Kevin O'Leary as examples of ambitious plans now facing significant headwinds.
The backlash is spawning a new generation of startups trying to solve the very problems that are killing projects. Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta are teaming with nonprofit investor Elemental Impact to test technologies including advanced cooling systems, energy storage solutions, and low-carbon building materials. If these startups scale, they could address the water and air quality concerns that are derailing data center expansions.
Author James Rodriguez: "Energy was supposed to be invisible infrastructure, but now it's the prize everyone's fighting for, and communities are winning battles the tech industry didn't expect to lose."
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