NOTE
The binding constraint is a substation, not a fab
Three of the four largest datacenter corridors have utility interconnect backlogs past 2027. Everything downstream of that queue is capacity-gated regardless of chip supply.
This reframes several trades. If power is the constraint, then the companies that own interconnection rights, generation adjacency or on-site capability hold an option that has not been priced as one, while the chip supply chain is solving a problem that is no longer binding.
The counterargument is behind-the-meter generation, which genuinely does bypass the queue. It is also capital intensive, permitting-constrained in its own way, and available at a scale well below the announced compute pipeline.
The queue is a physical and regulatory process, not a commercial one. A new large load needs a transmission study, an upgrade allocation and a construction slot, and none of those compress in response to willingness to pay.
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