The US of A made it clear, that they want to stay ahead in artificial intelligence by restricting China's access to advanced chips and chip-making technology. And now, according to Tech 4 Gamers, half of the AI data centre construction projects in the US have been cancelled because of supply shortage of parts from China. This is because China produces most of the necessary equipment and electrical components, and since the demand is so overwhelming, it causes shortages and delays.
It is clear, that the US doesn't want to rely on China, and China doesn't want to rely on the US. But since China is the leading producer of electrical equipment and components for data centre infrastructure, it might cause something big: the US may not be able to complete all its data centre development projects.
The issue is not the chips themselves, as previously thought, but meeting electrical demands, which they cannot do without components obtained from China. According to Sightline Climate by Bloomberg, the US expects to consume 12 GW of energy in AI data centres, but has only reached 4 GW (33%), with plans to exceed this limit as the year advances. Transformers and batteries account for only 10% of the entire cost of an AI data centre, but without them, the centres cannot function.
This situation does not appear to be improving anytime soon, and tensions between the US and China needs to be considered, as they will affect the supply chain.