2026 Power Transformer Shortage Hampers AI Data Center Construction

The rapid development of artificial intelligence technologies has encountered an unexpected obstacle — an acute shortage of power transformers in 2026, writes CNews. These are devices invented in the century before last, but remaining the heart of any electrical grid.

Why Old Technology Has Become a Bottleneck

The paradox pointed out by the publication: one of the most advanced technologies of our time — artificial intelligence — is running up against a shortage of equipment whose design has fundamentally not changed for decades. Transformers are needed to connect any new large consumer of electricity, including data centers, to the electrical grid. Without them, new computing power cannot physically be put into operation, even if the servers and chips themselves are already ready and paid for.

How This Threatens Tech Corporation Plans

According to CNews, the widespread shortage of transformers in 2026 threatens the plans of leading technology corporations to launch new computing power. This is about companies building or planning data centers for training and running AI models — these facilities require connection to the grid at a level that requires tens and hundreds of power transformers.

What It Means

The boom in artificial intelligence is running up against not only a shortage of chips and electricity, which are discussed most often, but also a more mundane bottleneck — the production of transformers, technology from the century before last. Until the industry's production capacity catches up with the pace of data center construction, some announced projects risk being delayed regardless of how many GPUs have already been purchased.