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The data centers powering your favorite AI chatbot are running low on helium<\/a>, cash<\/a>, and neighbors who don\u2019t hate them<\/a>, and that\u2019s not even the worst of it.<\/p>\n According to reporting by Bloomberg<\/a>, about half of the data centers slated to open in the US in 2026 will either face delays or outright cancellations.<\/p>\n The publication interviewed analysts at market intelligence company Sightline Climate, which in research first flagged by Ed Zitron<\/a> last week noted that 12 gigawatts worth of power-consuming data centers are set to open in the US this year. But here\u2019s the catch: they say only a third of those are actually under construction right now, with the rest in a liminal pre-production stage in which they could, and likely will be, canceled.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just a problem for data centers planned for 2026, either. Among data centers slated to open in 2027, only about 6.3 gigawatts worth of computing infrastructure are actually under construction, compared to 21.5 announced gigawatts.<\/p>\n Things get even dodgier in the coming years, with the vast majority of data centers planned for launch between 2028 and 2032 having yet to even break ground. There are a further 37 gigawatts of planned infrastructure which haven\u2019t even received a firm completion date, only 4.5 of which have actually begun work.<\/p>\n Those delays, it seems, are due to a key bottleneck: electrical components manufactured abroad. Batteries, electrical transformers, and circuit breakers all make up less than 10 percent of the cost to construct one data center, but as Andrew Likens, energy and infrastructure lead at Crusoe\u2019s told Bloomberg, it\u2019s impossible to build new data centers without them.<\/p>\n \u201cIf one piece of your supply chain is delayed, then your whole project can\u2019t deliver,\u201d Likens said. \u201cIt is a pretty wild puzzle at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n As demand for those components far outpaces supply in the US, data center firms have had to source those components from manufacturers in Canada, Mexico, South Korea, and China. That leads to longer build times<\/a> as those complicated parts are sewn together with assemblages of other, smaller parts, before being shipped across the ocean, and eventually trucked to the final construction site.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen firsthand the value it can create if you are not hamstrung by electrical infrastructure lead times,\u201d Crusoe\u2019s Likens told Bloomberg. \u201cThey can make or break a project.\u201d<\/p>\n