The heavy iron that steps power up and down for the grid. Lead times have blown out to ~5 years — under 10% of data-center cost, but effectively 100% of the bottleneck.
Tightness
+6 this quarter — High-voltage transformer lead times stretched to ~5 years as grid step-up demand ran far ahead of a thin global supplier base.
No transformer, no interconnect, no power delivered — even with turbines and accelerators ready to go. Large units are made by only a few global firms, the US imports most of its high-voltage transformers, and grain-oriented electrical steel plus skilled labor cap how fast supply can scale. The cheapest line item on the bill of materials has become the schedule-defining one.
New transformer plants, added electrical-steel capacity, and on-site generation that reduces grid-tie needs. But PwC expects the supply-demand imbalance to persist for years.
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