Lede
The bottleneck on Big Tech's AI buildout was never chips — it's the grid. On October 23, 2025, the Department of Energy directed FERC to fast-track a new rule letting data-center developers file joint "load-plus-generation" interconnection requests directly, collapsing years-long queue waits. FERC set a June 2026 deadline to finalize "Interconnection of Large Loads to the Interstate Transmission System," and already forced PJM — the country's largest grid operator — to create co-location transmission service options for power-hungry campuses. Southwest Power Pool approved a parallel "High Impact Large Load" fast lane in January. None of this builds a single server rack. It builds substations, transformers, and transmission lines — and decides whether Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google's next AI campus gets energized in 18 months or five years. That timing gap is where the money actually sits.