Industry
Data centres: the physical layer under everything
Compute that cannot be powered or cooled cannot be deployed, which is why the constraint on AI capacity has moved from the chip supply chain into the electricity system and the construction industry. This branch covers the building itself: where the power comes from, how the heat gets out, and what sets the schedule.
For most of the industry's history the data centre was a solved problem: a building with power, cooling and network, built in a known way at a known cost. AI hardware broke each of those assumptions at once. A rack that draws over a hundred kilowatts cannot be air-cooled, cannot be fed by conventional distribution, and cannot be sited wherever land is cheap.
The result is that the binding constraint on deploying compute has moved out of the semiconductor supply chain and into the electricity system. An interconnection queue is measured in years. A large transformer has a lead time measured in years. Neither responds to demand the way a factory does, and neither can be resolved by paying more.
This branch separates the three things a facility has to deliver. Power covers the chain from the transmission network to the chip, including the generation operators are now building or contracting themselves. Cooling covers how heat gets from a processor to the outside air, and why liquid became necessary rather than optional. Sites and construction covers where capacity is built and what actually sets the schedule.
The dependency links from here run in both directions: up into the AI branch that consumes this capacity, and out into the energy branch, where the generation, transmission and equipment that make it possible are built.
How this breaks down
Split by what the facility has to deliver — power in, heat out, and the site that holds both.
- Data centresthis page
- PowerGrid connection, on-site generation, distribution and backup — the pacing item for almost every new build.Breaks down into: Prime power equipment · Grid interconnection · On-site generation · Distribution and backup · Efficiency and metrics11 pages belowChokepoint
- CoolingAir, direct-to-chip liquid and immersion — and why density forced the change.Breaks down into: Cooling plant and components · Air cooling · Direct-to-chip liquid · Immersion cooling · Heat rejection and water10 pages belowChokepoint
- Sites and constructionSite selection, the colocation and hyperscale models, and the long-lead equipment that sets the schedule.Breaks down into: Site selection · Colocation and hyperscale · Construction3 pages belowChokepoint
What this depends on
4 of these are marked as a chokepoint: a handful of qualified suppliers, a multi-year lead time, or a single geography.
- Supply chainChokepoint
Firm electricity supply
A flat, continuous, very large load requires generation and transmission that the system was not planned around.
Energy and grid - Supply chainChokepoint
Transformers and high-voltage switchgear
Multi-year lead times on equipment that no facility can be energised without.
Transformers - Supply chainChokepoint
Liquid cooling components
Cold plates, distribution units and couplings, from a supplier base sized for a niche that is no longer a niche.
Direct-to-chip liquid - StandardChokepoint
Interconnection procedures and queue position
Connection is granted by a regulated study process, and a place in that queue is what actually dates a campus; no amount of capital moves a project up it.
Interconnection queues
What depends on this
Other pages in this map that name Data centres as something they cannot do without.
- Artificial intelligence · Data layerData processing frameworksCorpus jobs run on ordinary cloud instances against object storage, not on the training cluster.
- Artificial intelligenceAI computeA rack of these parts draws several times what a conventional rack draws and cannot be air-cooled at density. Compute that cannot be powered or cooled cannot be deployed.
Companies across Data centres
Every company named on a step below this page, ordered by how many of those steps it appears at. Compiled from the pages themselves rather than written separately, so the two cannot disagree. Not a ranking and not a recommendation.
- Schneider ElectricFrance7 steps
Distribution and backup · Uninterruptible supplies · Busway and rack distribution · Efficiency and metrics · Coolant distribution units · Air cooling · Direct-to-chip liquid
- Delta ElectronicsTaiwan4 steps
Distribution and backup · Uninterruptible supplies · Coolant distribution units · Direct-to-chip liquid
- ABBSwitzerland3 steps
Distribution and backup · Uninterruptible supplies · Busway and rack distribution
- BoydPrivate3 steps
Cold plates and manifolds · Coolant distribution units · Direct-to-chip liquid
- CoolIT SystemsPrivate3 steps
Cold plates and manifolds · Coolant distribution units · Direct-to-chip liquid
92 more companies appear at a single step each; they are named on the pages for those steps.
How these pages are written
Each page explains one technology in plain language, states what it depends on, and names companies by what they supply at that step. Company roles are described qualitatively and deliberately carry no market shares, revenue figures or rankings — those change faster than an explainer can, and a stale number is worse than none. Ticker links point at company pages on this site and are provided for reference only.
Nothing here is investment advice, a recommendation, or a forecast. A company named on a page about a technology is not thereby a good investment, and the chokepoints described are structural facts about supply chains rather than predictions about prices. Technology moves; where a page describes something as unresolved or in development, that was true when it was written.
Plutux is not an investment adviser. Market data and AI-generated analysis are for information and education only, not investment advice. Disclaimer