AI's gas habit faces a price shock reality check
hyperscalers like meta and microsoft are betting heavily on natural gas to power ai, but a new report warns prices could triple, potentially driving up token costs.
tech giants are investing billions in natural gas infrastructure to secure power for ai, including meta's 7.5gw plant in louisiana and amazon's 7.6gw project in texas. however, noreva research predicts prices could jump above $10 per million btus from current levels near $3 due to ai demand and pipeline exports. fuel constitutes about half the cost of electricity, so price shocks could make running specialized ai data centers far more expensive. this volatility may force companies to rethink their off-grid energy bets or potentially pass higher costs on to ai users.