The data center boom is running into serious real-world obstacles, from widespread local opposition and permitting delays to a scramble for electricity. Before those challenges even come into play, though, there’s a more basic problem: A lot of the projects being announced may never get built in the first place. With billions of dollars in AI infrastructure investment at stake, separating realistic projects from speculative ones is becoming increasingly important.
On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Rebecca Bellan and Tim De Chant are joined by Brent Nelson, senior managing director of markets and strategy at Ascend Analytics, to separate the data center projects that are likely to get built from the ones that may never get off the ground.
Listen to the full episode to hear about:
- Why Brent thinks the data center pipeline is wildly inflated, and why only a fraction of the proposed projects will actually get built.
- What happens to all that AI infrastructure if the bubble bursts, and why the data center developers with the wrong tenants could be in serious trouble.
- Why Brent thinks Democrats should take their shot at permitting reform now, rather than wait for a more favorable political moment.
- How energy projects get stuck in a permitting loop, how administrations of both parties have contributed to the problem, and what it would take to get them moving again.
- Why natural gas isn’t necessarily the reliable fallback developers think it is, particularly during extreme winter weather.
- What a less obvious alternative to gas could look like: pairing battery storage with a grid connection that can be temporarily curtailed during periods of high demand.
