9 9 2026

The IEA estimates that global data-center electricity consumption was about 415 TWh in 2024. In its Base Case forecast, that rises to about 945 TWh by 2030, more than doubling in six years.

Data centers are turning into one of the biggest new power-demand stories in the market.

The IEA estimates that global data-center electricity consumption was about 415 TWh in 2024. In its Base Case forecast, that rises to about 945 TWh by 2030, more than doubling in six years. A lot of that increase is tied to AI workloads, which require more computing power, denser server racks, more cooling, and more reliable grid connections than the last generation of cloud infrastructure.

For investors, the number is useful because it connects the AI trade to the physical economy. The demand is not only showing up in chip orders or cloud capex. It is also showing up in electricity load, utility planning, transmission needs, backup power, cooling systems, transformers, and data-center construction. That widens the AI infrastructure theme beyond the obvious software and semiconductor names.

The forecast also helps explain why power has become a bottleneck in some markets. Building a data center is not just a real estate project. The site needs enough electricity, the grid needs enough spare capacity, and local utilities need enough time to connect the load. As AI clusters get larger, those constraints can decide where new capacity is built and which suppliers benefit.

The key caveat: 2030 is a forecast, not a reported number. The final path depends on AI adoption, chip efficiency, model training demand, inference demand, cooling improvements, and how quickly utilities can expand capacity. Still, the direction is clear in the IEA data: data centers are becoming a much larger part of global electricity demand.

Through August 2026, U.S. companies raised $137.6 billion in IPOs, according to SIFMA. That was 5.6x the amount raised through the same point in 2025.

IPO money is back.

An IPO is when a private company first sells shares to public investors.

Through August 2026, U.S. companies raised $137.6 billion in IPOs, according to SIFMA. That was 5.6x the amount raised through the same point in 2025.

One deal explains a lot of the rebound.

SpaceX raised about $85.7 billion in its June IPO, based on its filing. That was roughly 62% of all U.S. IPO money raised through August.

Even without SpaceX, the market was stronger than last year. Other IPOs raised about $51.9 billion through August, compared with $24.4 billion for the full U.S. IPO total through August 2025.

For investors, IPO activity is one way to read risk appetite.

When the IPO market is weak, private companies tend to wait. Venture funds wait for liquidity. Employees wait for exits. Investment banks and exchanges see less activity. Public-market investors get fewer new companies to evaluate.

When IPO money returns, it can reopen that chain.

The next question is quality.

A big headline number can reflect a healthier market, but it can also be distorted by one massive deal. The better signal is whether more companies can go public, price reasonably, and trade well after listing.

That is what makes the SpaceX split useful.

The IPO window is clearly more open than it was last year. But the rebound is still concentrated.

Source: SIFMA U.S. Equity and Related Securities Statistics; SpaceX IPO filing

In its August Short-Term Energy Outlook, the EIA cut its forecast for Texas electricity load growth in 2027.

Texas has become one of the clearest places to watch the collision between AI infrastructure and the power grid.

In its August Short-Term Energy Outlook, the EIA cut its forecast for Texas electricity load growth in 2027.

The prior forecast had Texas load growing 14% in 2027.

The August forecast brought that down to 6%.

The reason was not weaker AI demand. It was the policy and grid response to that demand.

In early August, Texas ordered a comprehensive data center audit and paused new data center development approvals while the state reviews grid reliability, interconnection requests, water usage, and emergency preparedness.

The scale of the request queue explains why regulators are paying attention.

According to the Texas governor’s office, ERCOT had 474 gigawatts of grid-connection requests, and roughly 90% came from data centers.

That is an enormous number relative to the state’s power system.

For investors, the chart is useful because it shows AI demand moving beyond earnings calls and construction spending into grid planning.

Data centers need power. They need transmission. They need backup systems, cooling, land, permits, and interconnections. When too many projects line up at once, the constraint may shift from chips to electricity.

Texas is an important test case because it has cheap land, large power markets, fast population growth, and a huge pipeline of industrial and data center demand. It is also a state where grid reliability is already a political issue.

The research question is which companies benefit when the bottleneck moves to power.

Utilities, grid equipment suppliers, power developers, engineering firms, backup-power providers, cooling companies, natural gas infrastructure, batteries, and nuclear developers all sit near this trend.

The risk side is just as important. Some data center projects may get delayed, repriced, resized, or forced into more expensive power arrangements.

AI demand is real. The grid still has to absorb it.

Stock of the Day

PTGX: Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc

Protagonist Therapeutics is a biotech therapeutics leader trading in an established uptrend with strong relative strength, intermittent GAAP profitability, and a recovering revenue run-rate that merits watching.

The technical picture and relative performance make this a timely name to watch: price sits above the 50-day and 200-day moving averages, seven of seven trend checks have passed, and the stock has materially outperformed the market recently; however, no verified fresh breakout or 9/21-day EMA add setup is present, so the setup is constructive but not currently actionable.

Revenue and earnings are lumpy and unpredictable, with one very large quarter followed by mostly modest sales, which makes forward revenue visibility limited; GAAP diluted EPS has been volatile and not consistently positive. Technically, the stock is in an established uptrend but sits just below short-term EMAs and lacks a fresh breakout, so the uptrend could stall. Accumulation measures are mixed (50-day up/down volume ratio 0.83 and a small average top-holder position reduction), which could leave the stock vulnerable during broader biotech weakness.