AI Just Put a $5 Million-a-Day Price Tag on Its Biggest Bottleneck
Companies building artificial intelligence infrastructure are demanding $5 million or more per day in penalties if data centers open late, up from around $1 million earlier this year, as power shortages become the primary obstacle.
AI headlines often focus on chips, but energy research firm Currence found in July that power is the main obstacle to new data centers.
Consequently, tenants are now demanding penalties of more than $5 million per day if developers fail to deliver power and facilities on time.
One tenant asked for $1 million a day earlier this year, but the figure has since increased.
Rent Credit Ladder
SoftBank-backed SB Energy is building a 10-gigawatt campus in Ohio for OpenAI. If it opens late, OpenAI gets one free day of base rent per day of delay.
After 90 days, that doubles to two, and a full year late costs 640 days of rent.
SB Energy rent credit ladder showing AI data center delay penalties reaching 640 free rent days after one year.
Market Reactions
In September, SB Energy postponed a planned $5 billion IPO after buyers pushed back on its $50 billion valuation.
None of its data centers is open, and it booked $139 million in revenue in the first half.
Markets have punished late builds before, as seen when CoreWeave shares fell about 16% in November 2025 after blaming one developer’s delay for a weak forecast.
Tenant Escape Hatches
Oracle sent a force majeure notice, a legal claim of uncontrollable events, on its New Mexico campus. It lets Oracle delay payments if the site misses its 2028 start.
Oracle says the project is on schedule, and its landlord, Blue Owl Capital, played down the move.
this notice does not change the financial commitments to this multi-year project.
Power Sets the Deadline
Broadcom chief Hock Tan says some AI investors act like they are in a casino, while BlackRock CEO Larry Fink warns that halting data center construction would push the US into recession.
Power now sets the deadline, and the builder pays the fine. New Mexico regulators rule on the campus air permit by November 23.
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