In 2025, year-over-year power infrastructure demand from tech companies reached record highs. Recognising that traditional grid interconnection timelines would stall AI compute expansion, data centre operators shifted their corporate strategies to prioritise immediate, on-site power. The combination of surging AI power demand and a failing electrical grid has intensified supply-chain constraints for ground-based turbines as they share a near-identical manufacturing base with flight-ready jet engines. This competition for limited manufacturing capacity means that a ‘megadeal’ for data centre power directly consumes the same resources needed to build and maintain aircraft engines. In the latter half of 2025, this reallocation emerged as the primary engine of disruption for commercial aircraft OEMs.

Source: Forbes March 23, 2026 11:32 UTC