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Who doesn\u2019t love a good round of FOMO? From dot-com to Web 2.0, virtual reality to blockchain, the tech industry has had its share of being too afraid to miss out on a trend.<\/p>\n
The AI bubble is the big daddy of them all. Its first offspring \u2014\u00a0the rush to lock down power for data centers<\/a> \u2014 is now begetting a mad dash to secure natural gas supplies and equipment. If FOMOs could have babies, then the AI bubble is already having grandkids.<\/p>\n Microsoft said on Tuesday that it\u2019s working with Chevron and Engine No. 1 to build a natural gas power plant<\/a> in West Texas that could grow to produce 5 gigawatts of electricity. This week Google confirmed<\/a> that it\u2019s working with Crusoe to build a 933 MW natural gas power plant in North Texas. And last week, Meta announced that it was adding another seven natural gas power plants to its Hyperion data center in Louisiana, bringing the site to 7.46 GW of capacity \u2014 enough to power the entire state of South Dakota<\/a>.<\/p>\n Are we missing anyone?<\/p>\n The recent investments are concentrated in the southern U.S., home to some of the largest natural gas deposits in the world. Recently, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that there\u2019s enough in one region to supply energy to the entire United States for 10 months<\/a> by itself. Every data center operator seems to want a part of it.<\/p>\n The scramble for natural gas has led to a shortage of turbines for the power plants, with prices likely to rise 195% by the end of this year relative to 2019 prices, according<\/a> to Wood Mackenzie. The equipment contributes 20% to 30% of the cost of a power plant. Companies won\u2019t be able to place new orders until 2028, and it\u2019s taking six years to get turbines delivered, the consultancy notes.<\/p>\n That means tech companies are betting that the AI fever won\u2019t break, that AI will continue to need exponential amounts of power<\/a>, and that natural gas generation will be necessary for success in the AI era.<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco, CA<\/span> They may come to regret that third assumption.<\/p>\n Though natural gas supplies in the U.S. are plentiful, and because shipping the fuel isn\u2019t cheap, the country remains somewhat insulated from the turmoil in the Middle East. But supplies aren\u2019t unlimited, and recently, growth in production in the big three regions \u2014 responsible for three-quarters of all U.S. shale gas production \u2014\u00a0has slowed considerably<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear how insulated tech companies are from price swings since none of them have disclosed specific terms of their agreements. A lot will depend on how firm the price is in those contracts.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even if the contracted prices are as firm as can be, the companies could still face repercussions.<\/p>\n Because natural gas generates about 40% of the electricity in the U.S., according<\/a> to the Energy Information Administration, electricity prices are closely tied to natural gas prices. Tech companies might be able to shield themselves from scrutiny for a bit by moving their gas power plants behind the meter \u2014 by skipping the grid and connecting them directly to their data centers. But natural gas isn\u2019t an unlimited resource, and if their ambitions grow too big, even the behind-the-meter operations could drive up power prices for everyone. We\u2019ve all seen how that\u2019s played out.<\/p>\n It won\u2019t just be regular households getting upset either. Other industries, including those that remain much more dependent on natural gas and can\u2019t yet turn to renewables, might balk at data centers grabbing so much of the resource. Powering a data center with wind, solar, and batteries is easy. Running a petrochemical plant? Not so much.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s the weather. One cold winter could change the calculus by driving up demand among households. Wellheads might freeze off, crimping supplies dramatically, as happened in Texas<\/a> in 2021. When gas runs short, suppliers will face a choice: keep the AI data centers running or let people heat their homes?<\/p>\n By snapping up natural gas supplies and moving behind-the-meter, tech companies can claim that they\u2019re \u201cbringing their own power\u201d and not straining the electrical grid. But in reality, they\u2019re just shifting their use from one grid to another, the natural gas grid. The AI rush has illustrated just how physically constrained the digital world remains. Does it make sense for them to bet big on a finite resource? Tech companies might regret falling for the FOMO.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n