TL;DR
AI is now measured in power plants. One industry forecast says about 43 gigawatts of new data-center capacity will be built in 2027, roughly the output of 40 large nuclear reactors, in a single year. Even the skeptic quoted in the same report puts it near 25. The money is real: the four biggest U.S. tech companies plan about $725 billion of capital spending this year, mostly on chips, power and data centers, and AI labs now rent electricity by the hundreds of megawatts. What this could mean is a grid rebuilt around computing. What it might also mean is a race for power that outruns the plants able to supply it.
Below the line, for paid subscribers: The full story: where it stands, how we got here and what's dated next; our Odds board on 5 milestones, starting with "New data-center capacity built in 2027 lands nearer 43 gigawatts than 25 by 2027"; our labeled speculation on what it adds up to; and every source.