AI Is Booming — But Can We Power It?

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. April 15, 2026

Key Takeaways:

  • AI is growing fast—and it needs a lot more power than expected
  • Access to electricity is becoming the biggest challenge for data centers
  • Data centers are starting to adjust how they use power to help the grid
  • Big tech companies may need to help generate their own power
  • Demand is so strong that new capacity is filling up quickly

In this episode of Let’s Talk Future, Tim Horan, Managing Director and Senior Analyst heading the Cloud and Communication Services research team at Oppenheimer, speaks with Nazar Khan, Co-Founder, COO and CTO of TeraWulf.

They break down a key issue behind AI’s rapid growth: having enough power to run it. As more companies invest in AI, the need for data centers—and the electricity to support them—is rising quickly.

Nazar explains how TeraWulf is tackling this challenge by combining expertise in both energy and data centers. Instead of treating power as unlimited, the industry is starting to rethink how data centers operate—making them more flexible so they can work better with the electric grid.

The bottom line: AI isn’t just a technology story anymore—it’s also an energy story.

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