Axios: AI turns energy into America’s hottest business

Posted on May 31, 2026 by michelleclarke2015
 AI turns energy into America’s hottest business
 
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images

The AI boom is pushing companies across the economy — from tech giants to automakers — deep into the energy business, Axios national energy correspondent Amy Harder writes.

Why it matters: The scramble for electricity has become the gold rush beneath the AI boom, creating enormous value and enormous risk if demand falls short.

Electricity — long treated as a cheap, abundant commodity — is suddenly emerging as one of the most valuable strategic assets in business.

“Everyone to some extent is either dependent on energy as a core input or they see energy as a huge opportunity,” said Brian Janous, who was Microsoft’s first energy hire 15 years ago and is now co-founder of data center developer Cloverleaf Infrastructure.

The latest: Ford this month began its expansion into energy storage for data centers and other large power users.

It launched a new subsidiary called Ford Energy in response to what it calls “the massive demand for domestic energy storage.

“Follow the money: Investors are rewarding companies pivoting to — or doubling down on — the power behind the AI boom:

Ford’s stock price rose to its highest level in three years after it announced its $2 billion energy business.

Bloom Energy, long seen as a niche energy player whose tech can deliver on-site power fast, saw its stock price skyrocket more than 1,200% over the past year.

Fervo Energy, a geothermal startup once viewed as speculative climate tech, surged after going public earlier this month as Wall Street hunts for new electricity sources to feed data centers.

GE Vernova booked $2.4 billion in electrical equipment ordersfor data centers in the first quarter alone, more than it booked all of last year. Its stock is up about 60% this year.

Reality check: Beneath the surging stock prices, trouble is mounting. Opposition to data centers is intensifying, and some of the biggest projects may never come to fruition.”A lot of people are going to lose a lot of money in this space,” Janous said — not because of a lack of demand, but because so many mega projects are chasing that demand.

The bottom line: For decades, energy was an input. In the AI era, it’s becoming the product.Share this story.
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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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