"Short on Power, People, and Equipment": 40% of U.S. Data Centers Face Delays as AI Giants Hit by Compute Bottlenecks

The grand narrative of artificial intelligence infrastructure expansion in the United States is encountering severe real-world scrutiny.

On Friday, data provided by satellite and AI analytics firm SynMax to the UK's Financial Times revealed that nearly 40% of U.S. data center projects scheduled for completion this year face delay risks, with key projects from tech giants like Microsoft and OpenAI expected to be pushed back by more than three months.

Meanwhile, according to the "2026 Data Center Outlook" report released by Sightline Climate, of the approximately 16 gigawatts of new data center capacity planned for addition this year, an estimated 30% to 50% will face delays or cancellations, with only about 5 gigawatts currently entering the construction phase.

These bottlenecks have become critical variables constraining the speed of AI commercialization. Hyperscale cloud enterprises have annual capital expenditure budgets exceeding $700 billion, but power shortages, labor deficits, equipment scarcity, and permitting hurdles are collectively extending the investment return window, intensifying market concerns over whether massive AI investments will convert into revenue as scheduled.

Project Delays Spread as OpenAI's Texas Expansion Slows

The issue of delays is particularly pronounced in OpenAI's core infrastructure projects.

SynMax tracked construction progress via satellite imagery and cross-referenced it with IIR Energy industry benchmark data to assess project completion timelines. The results indicate that construction progress on several large-scale parks associated with OpenAI is significantly lagging.

One of the most closely watched projects is a 1.4-gigawatt data center park located in Shackelford County, Texas. Built by Vantage Data Centers for Oracle, which will then provide chip computing power to OpenAI, this 1,200-acre park is planned to accommodate 10 buildings. In August last year, Vantage stated that the first building would be delivered in the second half of 2026. However, satellite images show that as of early April this year, only one of the six planned facilities showed signs of construction. SynMax estimates that the first building might not be delivered until December this year at the earliest; if calculated based on the typical pace of similar projects, delivery could be delayed until the end of 2027.

In Milam County, Greg Brockman, co-founder of OpenAI, stated last month that a 1.2-gigawatt park is taking shape, yet satellite images reveal that only one facility has started construction so far. Among OpenAI's multiple key projects in Texas, only the Abilene site is expected to be completed within this year.

In response, OpenAI stated, "Our historic data center construction is proceeding as planned and will accelerate from here." Oracle remarked, "Every data center we are developing for OpenAI is advancing on schedule, with construction proceeding as planned." SB Energy also noted that the Milam County data center "is progressing as planned and is expected to be one of the fastest-delivered projects of its kind."

Microsoft Projects Also Under Pressure Amid Permitting and Community Resistance

Microsoft's data center expansion plans face similar challenges.

New cloud service provider Nebius reached an agreement with Microsoft last year to build a 300-megawatt facility in Vineland, New Jersey, with the first capacity batch to be delivered by the end of 2025. However, satellite images show that progress in subsequent phases of the project has slowed, and thermal imaging data indicates that relevant equipment has not yet gone online.

The project also faces permitting hurdles and local resident opposition, with formal public comment procedures now initiated—a step typically signaling extended timelines and rising community resistance. Microsoft declined to comment. Nebius stated, "All capacity batches under the agreement with Microsoft have been delivered on schedule thus far, and we currently expect remaining batches to be completed as planned."

Josh Price, Director of Capstone Energy Strategy Consulting, pointed out, "The pursuit of speed and development is colliding with regulatory lag. The scale and complexity of these projects will inevitably trigger increased scrutiny and may lead to delays."

Triple Bottlenecks Overlap, Creating an Unbreakable Logistics Wall

Behind the delays lies a structural dilemma of shortages in power, labor, and equipment.

More than a dozen industry executives told the Financial Times that large-scale parks in the hundreds of megawatts range are being hindered by permitting obstacles and long-term shortages of labor, power, and equipment. According to Bloomberg reports, severe shortages of electrical equipment such as transformers, switchgear, and batteries are among the primary causes of delays. Domestic manufacturing capacity in the U.S. is far insufficient to meet demand, forcing builders to rely on imports.

Regarding labor, two construction industry executives involved in OpenAI-related projects stated that there is a severe shortage of skilled workers, ranging from electricians to plumbers, unable to meet the demands of constructing multiple large, complex facilities simultaneously. Remote locations have also driven up labor costs by as much as 30%. Doug O'Laughlin, President of SemiAnalysis, noted that in some areas, project concentration is so high that different contractors serving the same end customer compete for worker resources, "OpenAI is effectively competing with itself; workers move between projects chasing higher wages."

Grid capacity constraints and shortages of equipment such as gas turbines and transformers also pose constraints. Tech giants are racing to build ultra-large data centers with single-site power consumption no less than 1 gigawatt—equivalent to the output of a nuclear reactor—but lagging grid integration is compressing the feasibility space for project implementation.

Canaccord Genuity analyst George Gianarikas summarized the situation: "The U.S. data center boom is crashing against a powerful wall of logistical resistance."

Pipeline Backlog Forces Reassessment of Investment Return Timelines

Current delay pressures extend beyond ongoing projects, spreading to future construction pipelines.

SynMax estimates that over 60% of projects scheduled for completion next year have not yet begun construction, further exacerbating industry concerns about blocked expansion pipelines. Wes Cummins, CEO of data center operator Applied Digital, stated, "Financing is difficult, logistics are difficult, construction and operations are difficult... This year, we will see a wave of major delays in a batch of projects."

This situation cannot be ignored by investors. Hyperscale cloud enterprises have committed to over $700 billion in annual capital expenditures, but continued delays in infrastructure delivery mean the time required to convert these investments into monetizable computing power will be longer than expected, thereby placing pressure on profit expectations and valuation logic for AI-related companies.

Data from research firm Epoch shows that while a few 1-gigawatt-level projects are indeed expected to be completed this year—including developments by Amazon Web Services, Meta, and xAI under Elon Musk—these cases highlight exceptions rather than the norm within the broader context of industry-wide delays.