Delphi Digital Reports Power Constraints on AI Computing Deployment

Cryptocurrency research firm Delphi Digital released a report titled "The AI Boom Has a Power Problem" on October 29, highlighting that deployable AI computing power is limited by chip supply and power infrastructure. The report emphasizes that electricity is harder to supplement in the short term than chips, as chip production capacity can expand quarterly, while building new power generation and transmission takes years. The report mentions that PJM capacity auctions have cleared at price caps for three consecutive times, with the last two still short by 6.6 to 6.8 GW, marking the first historical occurrence of such a gap. The scale of large load queues in Texas ERCOT increased from 63 GW at the end of 2024 to 474 GW in June, with about 90% being data centers. The governor requested an audit of data centers in August, and ERCOT suspended power approval for data centers and crypto miners with a capacity of 75 MW and above. The report also notes that U.S. data centers are expected to consume about 4.7% of the nation's electricity in 2024, rising to between 9.5% and 15.3% by 2030. In a 1 GW facility, chip depreciation is approximately $2.8 billion to $3.3 billion annually, equivalent to about $8 million per day. SemiAnalysis predicts that by 2028, the U.S. will have over 40 GW of data center capacity utilizing behind-the-meter power sources, with gas turbine prices expected to reach $600 per kW by the end of 2027, nearly three times the level of 2019.

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