Global data centre investment will total $31.6tn by 2050, consultancy PwC estimates. Data centre builder SB Energy, an offshoot of Japan's Soft Bank, has filed for a New York IPO hoping to lure investors with projects including Ohio's PORTS-Pike. Open AI and Soft Bank have signed decade-plus contracts.

Interconnection approvals can take two to 10 years. SB's data centres will be co-located with new power plants. A Gallup poll shows 71 per cent oppose local construction. SB has never built a data centre itself, though a recently acquired consultancy has completed 15.

Filings warn that growing public resistance is an ongoing risk. If delayed, customers can buy out projects outright. SB seeks a $50bn valuation, roughly 400 times full-year EBITDA. Open AI has taken warrants paying out if SB hits $80bn. The shale boom showed America can pull off mega-construction, but the bust showed they don't always work out.