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The great AI energy land grab

The great AI energy land grab

Built World

How tech giants are buying power plants to bypass the grid

December 22nd, 2025: Alphabet Acquires Intersect Power for $4.75 Billion

Overview

Alphabet just paid $4.75 billion for a power company, securing 10.8 gigawatts of capacity—enough to power 8 million homes. Tech giants spent 2024 locking down nuclear reactors and signing multibillion-dollar energy deals because there's not enough electricity for AI.

The utilities can't keep up: when 60 data centers in Virginia went offline in 2024, they nearly crashed the grid. Dominion Energy told developers power won't arrive until 2026, and Gartner predicts 40% of AI data centers will face power shortages by 2027. Tech companies went around the grid: Amazon bought a data center wired into a nuclear plant, Microsoft is restarting Three Mile Island, and Google is developing 15 gigawatts with NextEra by 2035. By December 2025, the Department of Energy opened federal land at Oak Ridge for nuclear-powered data centers, and advanced nuclear startups raised over $500 million in a single week.

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Key Indicators

165%
Projected growth in data center power demand by 2030
Goldman Sachs forecast from 2024 baseline
15 GW
Power capacity NextEra will build for data centers by 2035
Announced in partnership expansion with Google, December 2025
$500M+
Nuclear startup funding raised in one week
Radiant, Last Energy, ARC Clean Technology combined, December 2025
40%
AI data centers constrained by power shortages by 2027
Gartner prediction from November 2024

Voices

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Timeline Five events from this story — drag them oldest to newest. Log in to play
Connections Sixteen names from the news. Find the four hidden groups of four. Log in to play

People Involved

Organizations Involved

Timeline

November 2022 December 2025

13 events Latest: December 22nd, 2025 · 5 months ago Showing 8 of 13
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  1. Alphabet Acquires Intersect Power for $4.75 Billion

    Latest Acquisition

    Alphabet announces definitive agreement to buy energy infrastructure provider Intersect, gaining 10.8 gigawatts of power generation and data center projects.

  2. Radiant Raises $300M+ for Portable Nuclear Reactors

    Investment

    Radiant Nuclear closes over $300 million funding round led by Draper Associates and Boost VC to build factory for mass-produced portable microreactors in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

  3. ARC Clean Technology Closes Series B for Advanced SMRs

    Investment

    ARC Clean Technology announces successful Series B close with investors including Xplor Ventures and Hennessy Capital Group for advanced SMR development.

  4. Last Energy Closes $100M+ Series C for SMR Development

    Investment

    SMR developer Last Energy closes oversubscribed $100 million Series C led by Astera Institute to complete PWR-5 pilot reactor at Texas A&M, targeting 2026 criticality.

  5. NextEra Commits to 15 Gigawatts for Data Centers by 2035

    Energy Deal

    NextEra Energy announces plan to build 15 gigawatts of new power generation for data center hubs by 2035, expanding Google partnership to develop three gigawatt-scale campuses.

  6. DOE Proposal Deadline for Oak Ridge Nuclear AI Data Centers

    Government

    Department of Energy closes submissions for companies to build nuclear-powered AI data centers on federal land at Oak Ridge Reservation, calling it "Manhattan Project 2.0."

  7. Google and NextEra Partner to Restart Iowa Nuclear Plant

    Energy Deal

    NextEra Energy and Google announce plans to restart Iowa's Duane Arnold Energy Center nuclear facility by Q1 2029, plus develop nuclear-powered gigawatt-scale data center campuses across the U.S.

  8. Gartner Predicts 40% of AI Data Centers Face Power Shortages

    Analysis

    Gartner forecasts power availability will operationally constrain 40% of existing AI data centers by 2027 as demand reaches 500 terawatt-hours annually.

  9. Google Orders Fleet of Small Nuclear Reactors

    Energy Deal

    Google signs first-ever corporate SMR deployment agreement with Kairos Power for 500 megawatts across six to seven reactors, online 2030-2035.

  10. Microsoft Signs Deal to Restart Three Mile Island

    Energy Deal

    Constellation Energy and Microsoft announce 20-year power purchase agreement to reopen shuttered Unit 1 reactor by 2028, delivering 835 megawatts.

  11. Virginia Grid Nearly Crashes

    Infrastructure

    60 data centers in Fairfax County drop offline simultaneously, pulling 1,500 megawatts off the grid and nearly triggering widespread blackouts.

  12. Amazon Buys Nuclear-Powered Data Center for $650M

    Acquisition

    Amazon acquires a 960-megawatt data center campus in Pennsylvania wired directly into the Susquehanna nuclear plant, pioneering the bypass-the-grid model.

  13. ChatGPT Launches, AI Energy Crisis Begins

    Technology

    OpenAI releases ChatGPT to the public, triggering an AI arms race. A single ChatGPT query uses 10 times the energy of a Google search.

Historical Context

3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

1995-2001

Dot-Com Fiber Optic Overcapacity (1995-2001)

Telecom companies spent over $500 billion laying 80-90 million miles of fiber optic cable, driven by wildly inflated projections that internet traffic doubled every 100 days. The actual growth rate was half that. When the bubble burst in 2000, 95% of installed fiber sat unused—dubbed "dark fiber." Dozens of telecom companies collapsed under debt loads they couldn't service.

Then

Catastrophic overcapacity, telecom bankruptcies, investor losses in the trillions.

Now

The infrastructure eventually got used. Cheap fiber accelerated broadband adoption and enabled the modern internet economy, just not for the companies that built it.

Why this matters now

Tech giants are spending comparably on AI power infrastructure based on growth projections that may prove optimistic. History suggests overcapacity risk is real but infrastructure often finds uses beyond original intent.

1870-1911

Oil Industry Vertical Integration (1870s-1911)

John D. Rockefeller built Standard Oil by vertically integrating every stage of the oil business—production, refining, transportation, distribution. By controlling the entire supply chain, Standard Oil eliminated dependency on external suppliers and achieved 85% market dominance. The strategy worked until antitrust regulators broke up the company in 1911.

Then

Unmatched market control, massive profitability, and the creation of America's first business empire.

Now

The breakup created multiple successor companies (ExxonMobil, Chevron) that remained industry leaders. Vertical integration became standard practice for energy companies globally.

Why this matters now

Alphabet and peers are pursuing vertical integration into power generation to control AI infrastructure costs and guarantee supply—the same logic that drove Rockefeller. Regulatory scrutiny over market power is likely.

1920-1950

Utility Grid Buildout (1920s-1950s)

The U.S. built centralized electrical grids to serve growing industrial and residential demand. Rural electrification expanded access but required massive public and private investment. Utilities became regulated monopolies with guaranteed returns in exchange for universal service obligations. The model delivered reliable, affordable power for decades.

Then

Electrification of America, powering industrial growth and rising living standards.

Now

The centralized grid became critical infrastructure but also created single points of failure and limited innovation. Deregulation efforts in the 1990s-2000s produced mixed results.

Why this matters now

The utility model is breaking under AI data center load. Tech companies building dedicated infrastructure may represent the biggest challenge to the centralized grid since its creation, potentially forcing a new regulatory and operational paradigm.

Sources

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