The administration has proposed that PJM run an auction for long-term supply contracts and expects major technology firms to underwrite roughly $15 billion of new capacity. The mechanism would secure 15‑year commitments for generation capacity to blunt shortfalls as data centers and AI compute lift demand. PJM, which coordinates power across parts of the Mid‑Atlantic and Midwest, pushed back quietly and was not present at the policy rollout. Officials point to recent wholesale price inflation—regional rates rose roughly 10 to 15 percent in 2025—and a decade of increasing peak loads as the rationale for intervention. Independent monitoring shows peak demand climbed about 10 percent over the last ten years and is forecast to rise another 6.5 percent by 2027, trends that complicate planning for grid operators. Elevated natural gas costs are a prime driver: analysts estimate about 60 percent of last year’s price surge came from fossil‑fuel markets. The plan effectively asks cloud and hyperscale operators to bear the upfront cost of capacity they may never use, introducing the prospect of stranded investments if AI growth slows. Many technology buyers have favored phased renewable-plus-storage solutions because those projects can be built quickly and scaled with demand, reducing exposure. For developers and utilities, a mandated procurement would favor large, long‑lived plants that take years to reach service and could raise fixed costs across the system. If enacted, the auction would alter contracting norms: corporate buyers will press for risk protections, regulators may be drawn into disputes, and market participants could challenge the move in administrative and legal venues. At a systems level, the procurement could reallocate capital flows across the PJM footprint, raising costs for cloud customers and slowing the shift to modular clean resources. Policymakers must weigh immediate reliability concerns against the risk of locking the region into uneconomic assets and deterred innovation in flexible generation.

Riot Platforms announced a strategic expansion of its Rockdale, Texas campus by buying roughly 200 acres of land it previously leased and securing a long‑term data center agreement with a major semiconductor and AI infrastructure customer. The transaction funds and commercial commitments are structured to provide near‑term contracted revenue while preserving upside through scalable load commitments and extension options. AMD will occupy an initial tranche of critical IT capacity with the contractual right to grow substantially over time, creating a predictable revenue stream for Riot and anchoring the site’s economics. Riot paid about $96 million for the land, financing the purchase by selling a portion of its bitcoin holdings, which reduced on‑balance crypto exposure while converting that value into owned real estate. Management intends to dedicate a large chunk of the Rockdale site, targeting conversion of up to 700 MW of gross power capacity into data center operations, which aligns the facility with hyperscaler and HPC requirements. The deal dovetails with a broader industry shift as other mining operators announce big Texas investments and grid connection approvals, intensifying competition for acreage, power and fiber in the region. Market response was immediate: mining stocks, led by Riot, jumped on the news as investors priced in more stable, contracted revenue alongside traditional mining income. For Riot, the AMD relationship offers diversification from raw bitcoin mining volatility by layering long‑duration customer cash flows onto its asset base. That said, the economics of such conversions depend on long‑term power contracts, site buildout timelines, and the ability to deliver high‑density, high‑availability infrastructure at competitive cost. On the grid side, larger single‑site facilities and aggregated capacity requests raise questions about transmission capacity and interconnection timelines, particularly in ERCOT’s constrained markets. Operationally, owning the land removes a tenancy risk and supports multi‑phase development, while using bitcoin reserves to fund the purchase signals an opportunistic capital allocation choice amid elevated cryptocurrency prices. The transaction positions Riot to capture demand from HPC and AI workloads, but execution risks include construction delivery, equipment procurement, and aligning power supply with customer ramp schedules. In sum, Riot’s Rockdale moves convert speculative hosting potential into contracted enterprise business, reshaping its revenue mix and prompting a re‑rating among investors focused on durable cash flows and scale in U.S. data center markets.