Skip to navigationSkip to main contentSkip to right columnADVERTISEMENTIrina SlavFri, September 4, 2026 at 12:00 AM GMT+2 4 min readBig Tech is betting trillions of dollars on artificial intelligence, with a lot of that to be spent on building the data centers that would power large language models. Stock markets are reflecting this in Big Tech stocks, but that's not the only industry riding the artificial intelligence wave. Because that wave runs on electricity and the equipment that brings it from generator to consumer.There have been reports about a chip shortage caused by the AI rush, and higher compute prices overall resulting from AI-related demand growth in electronics. But a more serious shortage is unfolding in power equipment, as the companies pledging hundreds of billions in AI investments want everything ready yesterday if possible. Alas, it is not.Transformers, a vital component of the grid, have been in increasingly short supply for at least two years. The shortage has been driven by the fast growth in electricity demand, mostly coming from the tech sector, and the inability to respond to that growth with equally fast grid expansion.