Lead times for high-end accelerators have dropped from a year to a few weeks. Operators who ordered racks in 2024 now have a different problem: utilities are quoting multi-year waits for the megawatts needed to switch them on.
Where the capacity is going
New builds are clustering near hydro, nuclear and stranded gas. Several operators have signed deals to restart mothballed plants. The industry term of the year is "power-first siting": pick the substation, then find the land.
Key takeaways
- Accelerator lead times fell from 12 months to weeks
- Grid interconnection queues now exceed three years in some regions
- Operators are co-locating with generation
This story is part of our ongoing coverage of ai. We will update it as more details emerge.
