Google Just Spent $4.75 Billion on Something That Has Nothing to Do With Search

Yesterday, Alphabet dropped $4.75 billion in cash.

One of the largest acquisitions in Google's history.

But they didn't buy an AI startup.

Or a cloud competitor.

Or some fancy new algorithm.

They bought a POWER COMPANY.

Intersect Power, to be specific.

And if you don't understand why a tech company just became an energy company...

You're about to miss the biggest supply chain opportunity of the decade.

Here's what's actually happening:

Power is the new chokepoint.

AI models need insane amounts of electricity to run.

Data centers are basically giant energy-eating machines.

And the traditional utility grid?

Can't keep up.

So Google looked at the math and realized something:

Waiting in line at the local utility for power approval takes YEARS.

Building your own power plant next to your data center?

Way faster.

This isn't a tech story.

It's an infrastructure story.

And if you move equipment, finance projects, or sell into this market...

This changes everything.

Because whoever solves the POWER problem controls the entire AI buildout.

And right now, there's $800 billion in data center projects in the North American pipeline.

That's not a typo.

Of that, $159.9 billion is already in execution.

Shovels in ground.

Equipment being moved.

Workers being hired.

This is YOUR market for the next decade.

Let me break down what's actually happening right now.

Not the headlines.

The REAL movement.

Alphabet/Intersect Deal | Texas + National | $4.75B

Google's acquisition of Intersect Power includes a major co-located power and data center project in Haskell County, TX. Part of Google's $40B Texas investment through 2027.

Translation: Texas is becoming the new data center capital of America.

Lambda | Kansas City, MO | 100 MW

Lambda just announced plans to build a 100MW AI data center in a facility that's been sitting empty since 2009.

Adaptive reuse play.

Expect to see more of these.

Why build from scratch when you can convert existing buildings for half the cost?

Powhatan County, VA | 365 MW | Approved

Richmond suburb unanimously approved a 180-acre data center campus. Dominion Energy powering it with initial 365 MW deployment.

Virginia's still in the game.

For now.

Energy Storage Solutions | Rocky Mount, NC | $19.2B

900 MW. 300-acre campus. Major zoning hurdle cleared.

Construction begins Q1 2026.

Twin project planned for Fayetteville.

If this breaks ground on schedule... the entire pipeline is legit.

Microsoft | Mount Pleasant, WI | $22B+

First building scheduled for delivery second half of 2026. JPMorgan and MUFG providing $22B in debt financing.

Once operational, this will be one of the largest single-site data center capacities globally.

Amazon | Pennsylvania | $20B

Two key sites: Salem Township (adjacent to Susquehanna nuclear plant with direct power connection) and Falls Township.

Notice the trend?

Projects are now being built NEXT to power sources.

Not hoping the grid catches up.

Stargate | Abilene, TX + 5 Sites | $400B+

OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank.

7 gigawatts of total capacity.

That's enough power to run 5 million homes.

Sites confirmed in Texas, New Mexico, Ohio, and the Midwest.

This is the single largest private infrastructure investment in American history.

Meta | Northeast Louisiana | $10B

1,500 MW facility.

Once operational, one of Meta's largest data centers globally.

Microsoft AI Superfactory | Atlanta, GA

This is the first facility Microsoft is calling an "AI superfactory."

Multiple buildings.

Hundreds of thousands of GPUs.

Exabytes of storage.

Millions of CPU cores.

All linked together.

This isn't a data center.

It's a processing CITY.

Now here's the number that should terrify every developer:

$98 billion in data center projects were blocked or delayed in Q2 2025 alone.

That's more than all disruptions tracked since 2023.

In a SINGLE quarter.

According to the latest Data Center Watch report, there are now 188 activist groups across 24 states actively opposing data center projects.

In Q2, 66% of protested projects were blocked or delayed.

When a $24 billion project in Virginia gets tied up in court...

Where does that equipment go?

When activists block a site in Michigan...

Who's holding the transformers?

The migration pattern is clear:

Projects are moving from populated East Coast communities to rural Western states and places like Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

Places with fewer zoning hurdles.

And communities that actually WANT the jobs.

For truckers: Your routes are shifting. If you're set up for Virginia runs, start thinking Texas and Georgia.

For equipment suppliers: Delayed projects mean equipment sitting in yards. Cancelled projects mean equipment needing new homes. Both are opportunities.

Prince William County, VA | $24.7B
QTS/Compass project delayed by lawsuits. Revote mandated.

Michigan (Meta) | $7B
Saline Township initially rejected the project. State pressure reversed the decision. But the damage was done.

Chesapeake, VA
Unanimously blocked after 2+ hours of resident opposition.

Here's the uncomfortable truth:

A nationwide poll found only 44% of Americans would welcome a data center nearby.

That makes data centers LESS popular than gas plants, wind farms, or even nuclear facilities.

Look, I get it.

Nobody wants industrial infrastructure in their backyard.

But the same people protesting these builds are streaming Netflix, using ChatGPT, and expecting instant cloud backups.

You can't have it both ways.

So while activists are celebrating their "victories"...

The smart money is quietly moving South and West.

To places that actually want the tax revenue and jobs.

Two brand new data centers in Silicon Valley are sitting completed but empty right now.

The buildings are done.

The servers are ready.

The contracts are signed.

But there's no power.

Why?

No transformers available.

Here's what the supply chain looks like right now:

The numbers are brutal:

→ 30% supply deficit for power transformers in 2025

→ 116% demand surge for power transformers since 2019

→ 80% of US power transformer supply now comes from imports

→ Transformers now cost 4-6x what they cost before 2022

→ One US manufacturer quoted a 5-year wait time for new orders

Large power transformers weigh 100-400 tons.

There are approximately 10 super-heavy-load railcars in the entire country capable of moving them.

Those logistics alone can add MONTHS to delivery.

For heavy haul truckers: This is your market.

Every transformer that moves creates a high-margin, specialized load.

RGN and lowboy capacity is gold right now.

For equipment dealers: Used and refurbished transformers are commanding premiums.

The arbitrage opportunity is real.

Electricity prices near major data center hubs have risen 267% since 2020.

The grid stress is showing up in prices.

And it's not getting better.

$800 billion is flowing into this buildout over the next few years.

The people who move, build, power, and supply these projects are going to make generational money.

But there's a catch:

You have to be positioned in the right markets.

With the right relationships.

Offering the right services.

→ Texas (Abilene, Dallas, Houston)

→ Ohio (Columbus corridor)

→ Georgia (Atlanta metro, Coweta County)

→ Pennsylvania (nuclear-adjacent sites)

→ North Carolina (Rocky Mount, Fayetteville)

→ Wisconsin (Mount Pleasant)

→ Louisiana/Mississippi (Meta, Compass)

→ Heavy haul capacity (especially RGN, lowboy, step-deck)

→ Transformers and switchgear

→ Skilled trades (electricians, pipefitters, controls technicians)

→ Bridge financing for equipment and land

→ Community relations expertise (seriously, this is becoming a skill)

→ More adaptive reuse projects (converting existing buildings)

→ More co-located power generation (behind-the-meter deals)

→ More international arbitrage (cheap power overseas)

→ More equipment shortage workarounds (used, refurbished, stockpiled inventory)

I'm actively building relationships with truckers, contractors, and equipment suppliers working these projects.

Right now, here's the pattern I'm seeing across multiple sources:

General contractors are overwhelmed.

They're juggling 10+ specialized vendors per site.

Scrambling for capacity.

And paying premiums for anyone who can actually deliver on time.

The bottleneck isn't just equipment.

It's LOGISTICS COORDINATION.

According to recent quotes in heavy haul networks, a single 250-ton transformer move from Houston to Abilene is going for around $47K right now.

4-day haul.

High margin.

But the truckers who can handle these loads?

Already booked.

And the brokers who know how to coordinate these specialized moves?

Even harder to find.

Which means loads are sitting. Projects delayed. Money on the table.

More intel from the field coming in future issues.

(And if YOU'RE working these projects and want to share what you're seeing... just reply. I'll keep it anonymous if needed.)

Google's next acquisition.
If they bought an energy company, what's next? Transformer manufacturer? Heavy haul fleet? Cooling tech company?

Q1 2026 groundbreakings.
Energy Storage Solutions in North Carolina is the canary in the coal mine. If that breaks ground on schedule, the entire pipeline is real.

Prince William County appeal.
If QTS/Compass wins, $24.7B comes back online. If they lose, that equipment and those plans go somewhere else.

Transformer tariff policy.
80% of supply is imported. Any tariff changes hit the supply chain immediately.

This is Issue #1 of The DC Pipeline.

Weekly intelligence on where the data center money is going... and who's getting it.

I built this for the people who actually BUILD the cloud:

Truckers. Contractors. Equipment suppliers. Lenders.

Anyone trying to capture a piece of this $800 billion buildout.

If this was useful, forward it to someone in your network who needs to see it.

Because the people who WIN in this market aren't the ones hoarding intel.

They're the ones SHARING it.

The pie is big enough for all of us to eat.

Next week: The trucker's guide to data center heavy haul, and which equipment vendors are actually delivering.

The DC Pipeline is written for operators, not observers.

No fluff. No hype. Just intelligence you can use.

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