The future is arriving badly explained

The computers cost more than everything else put together. In Epoch AI’s hypothetical U.S. AI data center, servers account for about $21.2 billion of the $37.9 billion initial investment. The facility, cooling, other IT equipment, land and utility works make up the rest.

This explains why a data center’s headline construction budget may describe only part of the investment. A building and its cooling systems are not the same purchase as a fully equipped AI computing site.

This is a model, not an average of real projects or a current price quote. It uses NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 systems and one gigawatt of rated IT capacity. That describes the computing equipment’s power rating, not the site’s electricity use over a year.

More Detail, Sources and Data

What the Budget Includes

“Facility & Cooling” is Epoch’s facility category, including its liquid-cooling cost adjustment. “Networking & Other IT” is the source’s network-infrastructure category: a proxy for the cluster’s non-server investment, including networking, storage, service, software and installation. Land and utility works are separate inputs. A small budget share does not establish that land or a grid connection is easy to obtain.

Modeled Initial Investment
Component	USD Millions	Share
Servers	21,188	55.9%
Facility & Cooling	11,433	30.2%
Networking & Other IT	4,925	13.0%
Land	172	0.5%
Utility Works	164	0.4%
Reported Total	37,883	100%

How We Calculated the Shares

Vastkind divided each component in Epoch’s upfront-investment CSV by its reported total of $37,883 million, then multiplied by 100. Bars start at zero and use unrounded shares; labels show one decimal place. The title rounds the server share, 55.93%, to 56%.

The individually rounded components add to $37,882 million, $1 million below the rounded total. The underlying model workbook totals approximately $37,882.5 million. This rounding difference does not change the displayed shares.

A Model of Purchases, Not Annual Spending

Epoch published the analysis on May 14, 2026; its upfront chart data were updated May 19. Hardware and construction assumptions include 2025 estimates. The model uses GB200 NVL72 systems and a hypothetical U.S. hyperscale site with 1 GW of rated IT capacity, powered entirely from the grid. It is not a November 2026 supplier quote, a measured industry average or a forecast for every future AI facility.

These are initial capital costs. Electricity bills and other operating expenses belong to a different comparison. Epoch’s separate annualized-cost analysis accounts for recurring costs and different asset lifetimes; its percentages must not be mixed with these upfront shares.

For the separate question of what a large chip count can enable, see our explanation of Colossus 2’s expansion plans. This chart does not estimate that project’s budget.

Data and model: Amelia Michael and Ben Cottier, Epoch AI, AI Data Center Cost Breakdown, reused with attribution under CC BY 4.0. Vastkind calculated the shares, clarified category labels and created this chart; no source graphic was copied.

Energy

Seven in Ten Grid-Connection Requests Were Withdrawn

U.S. power-plant and storage grid requests · Submitted 2000–2020 · Status at end of 2025

Share of 21,927 requests in the report’s outcome sample. Counts, not generating capacity.

Withdrawn70.8%

15,515 requests

Operating19.1%

4,192 requests

Still active8.8%

1,921 requests

Suspended1.4%

299 requests

0%25%50%75%100%

Suspended means on hold. Withdrawn does not mean rejected by a grid operator; the data do not assign a reason for each withdrawal.

Source: Berkeley Lab and GridTracker, Queued Up 2026 · Original chart: Vastkind · CC BY 4.0 dataRequests submitted 2000–2020 · Status at end of 2025 · 2026 edition

Most requests in this older cohort did not become operating power resources. By the end of 2025, 15,515 had been withdrawn, while 4,192 were operating. Another 2,220 were still active or suspended, even though every request had entered a queue at least five years earlier.

A grid queue records developers’ plans to connect equipment, not a stock of completed plants. These outcomes show why a large queue cannot be read as a promise of future electricity supply. They do not show how many withdrawals were caused by grid delays, financing, permitting or a change of plan.

MISO’s current proposal concerns a different side of the grid: connecting large electricity users. This chart instead follows generation and storage requests, using outcomes recorded before that October 2026 dispute.

More Detail, Sources and Data

Requests Are Not the Same as Plants or Megawatts

The denominator is the 21,927 requests in the report’s published outcome analysis, submitted from 2000 through 2020 inclusive. The report selects regions with comprehensive status information; this is not a census of every U.S. connection application. Load requests, distribution-connected systems and equipment behind a customer’s meter are outside this dataset’s scope.

Each request has equal weight. A large plant counts the same as a small one. The operating share is 19.1% by request count, not the report’s separate 13% capacity-weighted result. Active and suspended requests are not treated as permanent failures; this is a status snapshot, not a prediction for a new application.

Status at End of 2025 for Requests Submitted in 2000–2020
Status	Requests	Share
Withdrawn	15,515	70.8%
Operating	4,192	19.1%
Still active	1,921	8.8%
Suspended	299	1.4%
Total	21,927	100%

Source, Calculation and a Conflicting Footnote

Vastkind summed the 21 annual rows in the original workbook, sheet “23. Completion Rate Trend,” cells A28:E48. Each share equals its status count divided by 21,927, multiplied by 100. Bars use unrounded shares; labels use one decimal place, so displayed shares add to 100.1% after rounding.

The workbook tables and the figure on page 35 of the 2026 report support 21,927 requests. Footnote 5 on that page instead says 22,061. The source does not explain the difference. This chart uses the reproducible table total, not the conflicting footnote.

The publication catalogue and workbook are dated May 2026; the report cover is dated June 2026. The outcome snapshot ends in 2025. Data attribution: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and GridTracker/Interconnection.fyi, CC BY 4.0. Aggregation and visualization by Vastkind; no source illustration was copied.

Energy

Electric Vehicles Used Less Than 1% of U.S. Electricity

Electric vehicles use less than 1% of U.S. electricity.

Share of total electricity use · U.S. · January–June 2026

0.67%

Vehicle charging: 0.67%Each block = 1%

Electric cars, light trucks and plug-in hybrids; national electricity use, not the power needed locally at one moment.

Source: U.S. EIA · Chart: VastkindData: Jan–Jun 2026 · Release: September 2026

Charging electric cars and light trucks, including plug-in hybrids, used an estimated 0.67% of U.S. electricity in the first half of 2026. Out of every 100 units of electricity used nationwide, less than one went to these vehicles.

Their share of U.S. electricity more than doubled from the same months of 2023, while remaining a small national share. Local grids can still face pressure when many vehicles charge in the same place at the same time.

More Detail, Sources and Data

Growing quickly. Still below 1%.JANUARY–JUNE EACH YEAR · EIA ESTIMATES

The axis ends at 1%, not 100%. These national estimates cover battery-only and plug-in hybrid cars and light trucks, not every electric vehicle or a local grid's peak load.

Data: U.S. EIA · Monthly Energy Review, Table 7.6 · Calculation and chart: VastkindPeriod: Jan–Jun 2023–2026 · Release: September 2026 · Retrieved: 13 Oct 2026

Charging Grew Fast but Remained a Small National Share

Cars can draw more electricity without becoming a large part of the national power bill. EIA estimates that U.S. light-duty electric vehicles used 13.7 terawatt-hours in the first half of 2026, up from 5.9 TWh in the same months of 2023. Total U.S. electricity end use in the latest half-year was about 2,043.3 TWh. Divide the two and EVs account for 0.67%.

The comparison uses January through June in every year, rather than mixing winter and summer halves. It starts in 2023 because EIA changed how it estimates vehicle miles traveled that year; earlier observations are not strictly comparable.

The country is not one charging socket

A national energy total cannot show whether a neighborhood transformer can serve several new chargers, or whether charging coincides with a local evening peak. Terawatt-hours measure energy over a period; those constraints also depend on where electricity is drawn and how much power is needed at once.

The useful distinction is scale: EV charging grew rapidly from a small national base. That does not make every local connection easy, but it does keep a growing load from being mistaken for a dominant share of U.S. electricity use.

Sources, Method & Data

Calculation. We sum January–June monthly observations in EIA's September 2026 Table 7.6 and downloadable data. Share = estimated EV electricity use (series ESVHPUS) / total electricity end use (ELTCPUS) × 100. Both series are published in million kWh; 1,000 million kWh equals 1 TWh. Ratios use unrounded source values. Display rounding is not a measure of model certainty.

Coverage. The charging total estimates electricity used by on-road battery-only and plug-in hybrid cars and light trucks up to 8,500 lb gross vehicle weight, including cars and light trucks. It is not a census of charger meters and excludes heavy trucks, buses, off-road vehicles and gasoline burned by plug-in hybrids. The geography is the 50 U.S. states and District of Columbia. EIA's estimation method combines vehicle stock, travel and energy-use assumptions.

Total Electricity Use and a Change in the Estimates. Electricity end use is retail sales plus direct use, not power-generation capacity, electricity generation or total primary energy. Vehicle charging is already included in total electricity use and is not added again. This is not a claim to measure every kilowatt-hour produced and used on site by rooftop solar. EIA notes a vehicle-miles-traveled methodology change beginning in 2023, so no earlier-year growth comparison is drawn.

First-half estimates; electricity in TWh
Period	Vehicle charging	Total end use	Charging share
Jan–Jun 2023	5.9	1,899.3	0.31%
Jan–Jun 2024	8.2	1,967.6	0.42%
Jan–Jun 2025	10.9	2,021.3	0.54%
Jan–Jun 2026	13.7	2,043.3	0.67%

Source version and rights. New explanation of existing data, not an October demand reading. Latest observations: June 2026. EIA's public aggregate data are reused with attribution under its reuse policy. Original chart by Vastkind; no EIA logo or third-party microdata reproduced.