Data center firms say energy and labor, not chips, are holding back AI growth

The AI boom has a new bottleneck, and it isn’t the chips. Executives from major data center operators say the real constraints on expansion are access to energy and the people who know how to wire it all together.

Speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi, industry leaders ranked power and skilled labor ahead of chip supply and capital availability.

The electrician is the new GPU

NTT Data CEO Abhijit Dubey pointed to a significant talent shortage, with electricians at the top of the list. He noted that electrician compensation in the US has climbed to approximately $200,000.

Dubey also flagged long waits for equipment. Lead times for sourcing gear can stretch to up to 42 weeks.

Money, notably, is not the problem. Powering up a data center in the US can cost as much as $3 billion, yet executives did not identify capital as a limiting factor.

Demand outruns supply, on paper and in practice

Brookfield Asset Management’s Connor Teskey reinforced the view that the imbalance isn’t going away soon. He said demand for data centers will likely exceed supply through the end of this decade.

The executives’ comments line up with findings from Bain & Company’s Technology Report, published September 29, 2026. Bain points to energy access, labor shortages, and equipment delays all pressing on the industry at the same time.

Bain forecasts $5-6.5 trillion in cumulative data center investment by 2030, adding nearly 150 GW of capacity in what it describes as an unprecedented, AI-driven market boom.

Europe’s grid problem

The constraints look especially sharp in Europe. According to Bain, congested power grids in parts of the continent can take more than a decade to upgrade.

Amsterdam offers a stark example. Grid connections in the city can take up to 10 years.

What this means

For investors, the picture is two-sided. Demand projected to outrun supply through the end of the decade suggests strong pricing power for operators with capacity already online or with secured grid connections.

With equipment lead times of up to 42 weeks and grid connections that can take a decade in congested markets, the gap between announced investment and operational megawatts could widen.

Public opposition over data centers’ energy and water use, combined with lengthy permitting processes, may further complicate construction in many regions.