Cleaner Tech
AI’s Electricity Demand Means Cool New Tech Is Coming to Boring Grids
The rush to power data centers is helping startups developing superconducting cables and real-time grid information find new investors.
Electric grids need to carry a lot more power than they used to.
Photographer: Dominic Lipinski/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Bosses at artificial intelligence companies aren’t worried about the end of the world or the start of government regulations. Their biggest worry is more mundane: finding enough electricity to keep servers running at data centers.
That, coupled with growing purchases of electric cars and heat pumps, is creating skyrocketing demand after decades of stagnant or shrinking growth in Europe and the US.