Here's a less obvious reason why the U.S. is racing against the clock to meet AI's insatiable energy appetite: the power transformer shortage. These electrical behemoths, which step down massive amounts of voltage for data centers and computing facilities, are only partly manufactured by automation—the rest still requires hands-on craftsmanship. The result? Supply can't keep pace with demand. While everyone's obsessing over semiconductors, this unglamorous but absolutely essential piece of infrastructure is quietly becoming the chokepoint. The shortage ripples across the entire energy landscape, affecting not just AI facilities but also blockchain infrastructure and mining operations that depend on stable power grids. Until the manufacturing bottleneck eases, America's AI ambitions—and the broader tech ecosystem—will keep bumping up against this hard physical limit.