Generate the Power

This is the layer where electrons are born. Every watt consumed by every GPU in every AI data center originates here — in a gas turbine spinning at 3,600 RPM, a nuclear reactor sustaining a controlled fission chain, a wind farm converting kinetic energy, or a solar array capturing photons. The AI buildout's single largest physical dependency is power generation, and the math is staggering: a 1GW hyperscaler campus consumes as much electricity as a city of 750,000 people, running 24/7/365 at near-100% load factor.

GE Vernova is the anchor company. Their heavy-duty gas turbines (the HA class) are the workhorse of new dispatchable power for data centers — each unit produces 300-400MW, enough to power a mid-size data center campus. Lead times for these turbines run 4-5 years from order to commercial operation, creating a structural bottleneck that no amount of capital can compress. GE Vernova's installed base of 7,000+ gas turbines worldwide also generates a massive services annuity: every turbine needs regular hot-gas-path inspections, combustor replacements, and rotor overhauls on 24,000-hour cycles.

Constellation Energy is the largest nuclear fleet operator in the United States with 21GW of capacity. Nuclear provides the only carbon-free baseload power source at scale. Microsoft's 20-year PPA with Constellation to restart Three Mile Island Unit 1 signaled that hyperscalers will pay premium prices for dedicated, carbon-free, always-on power. Vistra Corp adds the gas-fired and coal-to-gas conversion angle — their fleet is transitioning toward gas generation that directly serves data center load growth in Texas and the PJM corridor.

The nuclear newcomers — NuScale Power (small modular reactors), Oklo (fast neutron reactors), and Lightbridge (advanced fuel technology) — represent the long-duration bet. If SMRs reach commercial deployment by 2030-2032, they could provide factory-built, site-flexible nuclear power specifically designed for data center campuses. Cameco supplies the uranium fuel that all of these reactors need, making it the upstream chokepoint for the entire nuclear pathway.

NextEra Energy bridges both worlds — the largest generator of wind and solar energy in the world, and increasingly a player in the data center power market through long-term renewable PPAs. Generac provides backup power systems (generators) that keep data centers running during grid outages. Cummins supplies the diesel and natural gas engines for standby generation. Howmet Aerospace makes the superalloy turbine blades and structural castings that go inside GE Vernova's gas turbines — a critical Tier 2 supplier. Babcock & Wilcox builds heat recovery steam generators and boiler systems for combined-cycle plants. Plug Power represents the hydrogen generation pathway — green hydrogen produced via electrolysis could eventually fuel both turbines and fuel cells.

The bottleneck reality is severe: gas turbine lead times are 4-5 years, nuclear plant restarts take 3-7 years, and new nuclear construction is a decade-plus timeline. Grid interconnection queues now average 5 years in most US markets. The AI buildout is constrained not by the willingness to spend, but by the physical time required to build new generation capacity.