AI experts return from China stunned: The U.S. grid is so weak, the race may already be over

https://fortune.com/2025/08/14/data-centers-china-grid-us-infrastructure/

by bardsmanship

25 comments

  1. In the US, they will build a gas plant next to the data centre. Which will then start belching CO2, NOx and many other waste fumes. But it’ll be easier than to install solar panels, wind turbines, and HVDC lines.

  3. But don’t worry, they won’t solve the population and debt problems. Right?

  4. Tech bros shocked that circlejerking, tweeting “we cooked” 100x times and sucking up to a wannabe fascist doesn’t win anything.

  5. Yes, but (points to chart) we still have more billionaires. Checkmate atheists

    /s

  6. It’s amazing how people underestimate the technology level of China, and Asia in general.

  7. ” The U.S. grid is so weak, the race may already be over”

    What ?

    What about all of the wind power ?

    Surely its easy to power data centers that need 5 MEGAWATT apiece with wind / solar panels and batteries ?

  9. Energy infrastructure takes large amounts of capital, and takes a long time before investors see consistent, small returns. 

    AI and technology startups frequently promise exponential growth despite uncertainties. They also require less capital for greater returns and hype projects take less time.

    Investors want high returns, the highest value-add market, and to get rich quick. Energy infrastructure does not make that happen. 

    We see this stem from education, work and the wider economy. 
    Children begin their lives wanting to be rich instead of useful to society. Teenagers want to get rich quick after seeing influencers and crypto scammers get richer than honest working folks where honest employment is looked down upon.

    We get degree mills that provide qualifications as a service but no real training. We see the rise of hustle culture, where young adults value connections more than skill. The people are addicted to easy gains, where almost everyone wants rewards without putting in the time and effort. The market rewards investment in unproductive cryptocurrency more than US productive industries.

    Similarly, many want to invest in the most profitable AI companies, but few want to put in the fundamental groundwork which is the infrastructure which is the grid which AI runs on. 

    A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit. In the case of the US, trees are being felled for firewood.

  10. I predicted long before deepseek came out that China is more likely to win the ai race for this reason. As they are attacking the cost from both sides more efficient processors as well as cheaper and cheaper electricity with renewables.

  11. Why is this a surprised? The US has had a corporate chokehold of not actually improving its base infrastructure for the past 30 years.

  12. Pretty cool how residential solar helps take pressure off the grid and we’re doing everything we can to kill it. Real neato.

  13. Gee, remember when biden was working to fix that and an orange rapist came in to break it instead? Yeah I remember that

  14. Unfortunately, for the environment, it doesn’t take long to build gas turbines and other liquid gas power plants. As these massive data centers get built, I’m sure they’ll start turning to natural gas generators to fill in the needed capacity. Silicon Valley is dumping trillions into Ai, they won’t let electricity be the end of their ambitions.

  15. What race? China is making actual infrastructure to support not just to their AI but all the other things they want to do. In the U.S. AI is being rolled out before any infrastructure to support it is in place. And then expecting the average citizen to pay for the infrastructure to support this AI. China will crush the U.S. in technological advancements in the next 10 years. Thanks to all the MAGA dipshits.

  16. Your CCP cheerleading is laughably detached from reality. China’s grid? Sure, it’s got shiny UHV lines and massive investment—$166 billion in 2022—but it’s a creaky mess under the hood, with coal choking 70% of its power, rampant renewable curtailment, and regional outages exposing its fragility. Superior? Tell that to the blackouts and the coal plants spewing like it’s the 19th century. And your “200X” shipbuilding claim? Pure fantasy—China pumps out bulk tonnage, but the U.S. builds high-tech naval and specialized vessels that Beijing can only dream of matching. Stop swallowing state propaganda and cherry-picking stats; it’s embarrassing. Little ski boats and glorified floating barges that are about as sophisticated as a rusty tin can.

  17. Yes Donald Trump stunted us for generations, we know. 

  18. Notice how Chinese CCP and their propaganda are always posting how big they think their things are LOL. Short man syndrome.

  19. And in the meantime, Trump and his merry band of morons are doing everything they can to stifle energy development in this country. They claim they support energy abundance and affordability, but all they do is cancel and kill projects everywhere tax credits? New transmission lines? Cancel them. Rooftop solar? Get rid of solar for all.!Fully permitted and under construction offshore wind farms on the East Coast? Cancel them and waste billions of dollars of investment. They are a bunch of clowns and have absolutely no clue what they are doing.

    https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/trump-administration-unveil-tougher-solar-wind-subsidy-rules-2025-08-14/

  20. This is essentially a story about renewable energy, and poo poos the whataboutism that big oil and climate delayers & deniers like to trot out..

    Why spend on old outdated tech when solar and wind are far superior. Expect to see the same chinese pragmatic dominance in EVs, storage, heat pumps and future foods, shit, probably defence eventually too

    US is dun fam, peak, if you will

  21. Good. AI at least at the consumer level is a mistake. It should only be used for scientific research.

  22. regressive policies written by and forced through by delusional christofascists will hold america back for a hundred years. get used to shit hole country status.

  23. And yet watch the orange moron in chief push policy that weakens the US grid even more. We’re hardly in a position of power in the UK in a lot of things but at least we are seeing the renewable writing on the wall

  25. Infrastructure who needs that according to the orange taco

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