"You may actually have a bunch of chips sitting in inventory that I can’t plug in" - Satya Nadella admits an embarrassing shortcoming, so let's hope it doesn't set the company back in the AI arms race

• AI data centers are overwhelming national grids and driving energy costs higher
• Companies are turning to nuclear options to sustain power-hungry AI workloads
• OpenAI urges the government to massively expand national energy generation capacity

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has drawn attention to a less discussed obstacle in the AI race - a shortage not of processors but of power.

Speaking on a podcast alongside OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Nadella said Microsoft has, “a bunch of chips sitting in inventory that I can’t plug in.”

"The biggest issue we are now having is not a compute glut, but it’s power — it’s sort of the ability to get the builds done fast enough close to power," Nadella added, "in fact, that is my problem today. It’s not a supply issue of chips; it’s actually the fact that I don’t have warm shells to ...