AI Data Center Power Demand Drives US Utilities Into Major New Debt Cycle

Artificial intelligence-driven growth in U.S. data centers is sharply increasing electricity demand and pushing utilities into one of their largest capital spending and borrowing cycles in decades. As companies finance multi-year upgrades to generation, transmission, and grid resilience largely through bond markets, investors face a changing risk profile shaped by higher leverage, regulatory constraints on rates, and differing protections between operating-company and holding-company debt.