This week's stories point the same way: the money for AI data centers is arriving faster than the power to run them, so builders are trying to get around the grid, both outside the fence and inside the building.

This week's briefing

The money isn't the bottleneck. Meta launched about $35 billion in share offerings while forecasting $135–$145 billion of capital spending this year. It hasn't tied that money to any specific site, and cash alone doesn't create capacity. Buildings, equipment and, above all, power still have to show up.

So builders are making their own power. With grid connections for large loads taking three to six years, interest in on-site fuel cells is growing. Rystad Energy forecasts fuel-cell investment for data centers could reach about $30 billion by 2030, up from $2.8 billion in 2025. Making power on site moves the bottleneck rather than removing it: projects still need transformers, permits and fuel supply.

And trying to waste less of it once it arrives. Enphase reported a lab test converting 13.8 kV grid power straight to the 800-volt DC that next-generation AI racks use, with fewer conversion steps in between. It's a company-reported test, with customer pilots planned for 2027. Aligned's new Delta Cube 3.0 cooling system makes a similar efficiency pitch, though without published test conditions.

The pipes beyond power are growing too. Tata Communications plans about 10,000 km of new long-distance fiber connecting India's AI and data-center hubs. Compute needs data links as well as electricity.

The takeaway: announcements are getting bigger, but the hard limits are still physical: grid connections, equipment and fuel. Watch for what actually gets connected and switched on, not just what gets funded.

Read the full briefs: fuel cells · Meta's raise · Enphase's test · Aligned's cooling · Tata's fiber

Explainer of the week

To go deeper on the fuel-cell story, our new explainer covers what "behind the meter" really means and why it doesn't remove every bottleneck. Read: Behind the meter: a data center's own power supply

Also new: How a data center can change your electric bill.

New in Learn: lessons and games for students

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• New lesson: Modular data centers: build, test, connect, with student and teacher versions
• New game: Coolant Protocol
• New game: Chip Merge

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