Nvidia and Amazon are spending billions to power the AI buildout
The AI boom has outgrown the grid. Nvidia and Amazon are now putting billions of dollars into power generation and infrastructure, with consequences for both the supply chain and the climate.
Nvidia is investing up to $3 billion in Lancium, the power-infrastructure developer behind the OpenAI-Oracle Stargate site in Texas, according to The Information. A $2 billion stake would give Nvidia roughly 20 percent of a company valued at about $10 billion. Lancium already has four gigawatts of power under contract in Texas and is developing sites for up to 15 more gigawatts.
Amazon is going further downstream. It is backing a gas-fired plant in Pecos County, Texas, designed to feed up to 7.65 gigawatts to an Amazon data center through 35 gas turbines. The New York Times reports the facility could emit up to 33 million tons of CO2 a year, which would make it the dirtiest power plant in the United States. Amazon spokesperson Margaret Callahan said the company's climate goals still stand but acknowledged that AI data centers could make them harder to hit.
The scale reflects how quickly compute demand is outpacing the grid. Climate scientist Zeke Hausfather estimates that a heavy user of agentic AI burns roughly the same energy per year as a clothes dryer, and that figure keeps climbing as agents take on more tasks.
The investments show where the money is flowing in the AI race: not just chips, but the electricity to run them. Nvidia's move into power infrastructure also tightens its grip on the entire stack, from silicon to the watt.
Sources
- The Decoder - AI's energy appetite drives Nvidia and Amazon to pour billions into massive power infrastructure
- The Information - Nvidia to Invest Up to $3 Billion in Blackstone-Backed Power Firm Behind Stargate
- The New York Times - Amazon Data Center Texas Pollution
