April 7, 2026 at 12:50pm ET

The token price curve assumes infrastructure that isn't being built.

Everyone is counting on AI tokens getting cheaper. That assumption depends on infrastructure that isn’t being built on schedule.

Half of planned US data center builds this year are delayed or canceled. Not because of capital. Not because of chips. Because electrical transformers take up to five years to deliver and AI deployment cycles run under 18 months.

The bottleneck isn’t silicon. It’s electrical equipment. And a third of it comes from China.

$650 billion in hyperscaler capex committed for 2026. But you can’t build a data center without an electrical transformer. And right now you can’t get one on time.

The token price curve everyone is extrapolating assumes supply that isn’t there yet.

Want longer reads on these topics?

Insights covers the same topics in depth: research-backed analysis on AI, value creation, and building companies.

Read Zaruko Insights