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The Markets Desk — Week 45 · Thu 5 Nov 2026
Compute / Build-out · week to 25 Sept 2026

The build-out, floor by floor, one week at a time.

From models at the top to permits at the bottom: what switched on, what was announced and what got stuck in the week from 19 Sept 2026 to 25 Sept 2026. Every mark is a dated row with its source.

A model of an AI campus hall, its copper gantry crane over rows of machines.
The build-out mapRows, never forecasts
Switched on
Compute market 1
Announced
Models and demand 9 · Compute market 1 · Data centres 3
Stuck
Models and demand 4 · Accelerators and fab 1 · Data centres 1 · Power and grid (context) 1 · gone quiet: State commercial power sales
Biggest constraint move
Date moved: Barber Lake · now "between the fourth quarter of 2026 and the first quarter of 2027"
Next due
SpaceX · "by September 30, 2026"
This week
1 · 13 · 7
switched on · announced · stuck, counted per floor and never added across families · 6 series not read
Hover or tap
Each floor is a layer of the build-out; each mark one dated row of the week
Solid: switched on, as filed or measured. Hollow: announced. Hanging: stuck. A faint stub: a series we list but cannot read.

Models and demand

  • Model releases: all 1,125 models (2026-09-19)
  • Model releases: all 1,258 models (2026-09-20)
  • Model releases: all 1,426 models (2026-09-21)
  • Model releases: all 1,650 models (2026-09-22)
  • Model releases: all 1,615 models (2026-09-23)
  • Model releases: all 1,762 models (2026-09-24)
  • Model releases: size · 30 in the week (2026-09-24)
  • Model releases: all 1,630 models (2026-09-25)
  • Model releases: licence · 31 in the week (2026-09-25)
  • Provider incidents: Anthropic · 1 in the week (2026-09-22)
  • Provider incidents: Fireworks · 8 in the week (2026-09-24)
  • Provider incidents: Cloudflare · 26 in the week (2026-09-25)
  • Provider incidents: OpenAI · 6 in the week (2026-09-25)

Money

  • Data-centre debt filed: not collected

Compute market

  • Vast.ai offers read (1 term) (2026-09-25)
  • Anthropic commits $11.6B over seven years to Akamai Cloud for CPU workloads; Akamai issues Anthropic a warrant for up to ~5% (2026-09-24)

Accelerators and fab

  • Export controls: 2026-19537 -2 days (2026-09-22)

Memory

  • HBM statements: kept by hand
  • Korean memory exports: key parked

Optics

    Data centres

    • Stated: cipher-mining · contracted · Follow-on lease (a leading AI lab, after Fluidstack's term) (2026-09-25)
    • Promised: cipher-mining · delivered · Data halls, re-phased (2026-09-25)
    • An unnamed AI lab commits to a 10-year Barber Lake lease following Fluidstack's term, ~$5.2B; Fluidstack lease re-phased (2026-09-25)
    • Date moved: Barber Lake · now "between the fourth quarter of 2026 and the first quarter of 2027" (2026-09-25)

    Power and grid (context)

    • Gas generation on time: 11.4% of megawatts due in 2026-08 (2026-09-24)
    • State commercial power sales: stale
    • Transformer and turbine imports: key parked

    Permits and land

    • Local votes against: kept by hand

    Floor by floor

    Models and demand

    Money

    Nothing filed this week.

    Not read this week: Data-centre debt filed (not collected)

    Compute market

    Switched on · 1

    Accelerators and fab

    Memory

    Nothing filed this week.

    Not read this week: HBM statements (kept by hand) · Korean memory exports (key parked)

    Optics

    Nothing filed this week.

    Data centres

    Power and grid (context)

    Not read this week: State commercial power sales (stale) · Transformer and turbine imports (key parked)

    Permits and land

    Nothing filed this week.

    Not read this week: Local votes against (kept by hand)

    The pipeline, Texas · three ladders, never added

    What the campuses filed, what ERCOT counts in its own queue, and what Epoch estimates. Each is its own family, kept apart.

    Filed as energized
    0 MW
    across the 7 Texas campuses on the register
    Promised by now, not yet filed
    none
    Campus · stage
    Hover or tap a bar
    Solid is filed as happened; hollow is promised. Height is the largest stated figure; each basis is listed apart, never added.
    • Abernathy: Contracted: 240 MW gross, 168 MW critical IT, filed 28 Oct 2025; Delivered: 168 MW critical IT, promised in the second half of 2026
    • Barber Lake: Contracted: 244 MW up to (a ceiling), 168 MW critical IT, filed 25 Sept 2026; Delivered: 168 MW critical IT, promised between the fourth quarter of 2026 and the first quarter of 2027
    • Beacon Point: Contracted: 352 MW IT load, filed 6 May 2026
    • CoreWeave Denton: Contracted: 260 MW critical IT, filed 27 Feb 2025
    • Helios: Contracted: 526 MW critical IT, filed 5 Aug 2025; Delivered: 200 MW gross, 133 MW critical IT, filed 5 Aug 2026; Delivered: 260 MW critical IT, promised 2027
    • IREN Childress: Contracted: 200 MW IT load, 60 MW up to (a ceiling), filed 7 May 2026; Delivered: no megawatts stated, promised by year-end
    • Stargate Abilene: Under construction: 1,200 MW basis unstated, filed 21 May 2025; Energized: 1,200 MW basis unstated, promised in mid-2026
    Drawn against asked
    4,316 MW / 321,000 MW
    Observed monthly peak (16 Sept 2026) against no studies submitted (13 May 2026). ERCOT's own buckets, each at its own date.
    Bucket
    Hover or tap a ring
    Each ring's area is its megawatts. Buckets are ERCOT's own, separate counts, not a running total.
    • No studies submitted: 321,000 MW, ERCOT, 13 May 2026
    • Under ERCOT review: 93,700 MW, ERCOT, 13 May 2026
    • §9.5 requirements met: 22,000 MW, ERCOT, 13 May 2026
    • Approval to energize: 9,456 MW, ERCOT, 16 Sept 2026
    • Observed energized: 5,900 MW, ERCOT, 13 May 2026
    • Observed monthly peak: 4,316 MW, ERCOT, 16 Sept 2026
    Epoch’s estimate
    —
    Not read yet: the first Epoch AI snapshot

    Demand meter · each grid against itself a year earlier

    Electricity each grid operator served in the week to 25 Sept 2026, from EIA’s hourly grid data, against the same seven days a year earlier. Weather moves these from week to week, so a change on the year is not all data centres. Each grid is its own figure; none is added to another.

    • PJM (Mid-Atlantic and northern Virginia)15,088 GWh−4.7%
    • ERCOT (Texas)11,468 GWh+9.4%
    • Southern Company (Georgia and Alabama)5,044 GWh+1.8%
    • MISO (Midwest)12,953 GWh+1.1%
    • Tennessee Valley Authority3,534 GWh+8.9%
    • Duke Energy Carolinas2,110 GWh−2.4%
    • Southwest Power Pool5,993 GWh+6.2%
    • Arizona Public Service905 GWh+0.3%

    Power sold to commercial customers, August 2026

    The closest public read of data-centre load, from EIA’s monthly survey of utilities. It lands about two months after the month it counts.

    • Virginia8,503 GWh+0.5%
    • Texas18,258 GWh+7.8%
    • Georgia6,132 GWh+13.2%
    • Ohio6,010 GWh+8.4%
    • Arizona4,548 GWh+12.3%
    Henry Hub gas
    $2.95 per MMBtu
    September 2026 average, from EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook · −0.7% on the year. The fuel behind most new generation: context only.
    Gas generation due in 2026-08 that arrived on time (EIA-860M)
    Turbine backlogLast reading 28 Oct 2026
    Grid equipment pricesLast reading 1 Sept 2026
    Weekly grid demandLast reading 30 Oct 2026
    State commercial power salesLast reading 1 Aug 2026
    Henry Hub gas priceLast reading 1 Sept 2026
    Transformer and turbine importskey parked
    Local votes againstkept by hand

    What the map reads, and how fresh it is

    • Model releases4 Nov 2026fresh
    • Provider incidents5 Nov 2026fresh
    • Model retirements14 May 2028fresh
    • Data-centre debt filed—not collected
    • Taiwan monthly revenue1 Sept 2026fresh
    • MLPerf rounds16 Sept 2026fresh
    • Export controls20 Nov 2026fresh
    • HBM statements—kept by hand
    • Korean memory exports—key parked
    • Optics backlog3 Sept 2026fresh
    • Data-centre construction spend1 Sept 2026fresh
    • Turbine backlog28 Oct 2026fresh
    • Grid equipment prices1 Sept 2026fresh
    • Weekly grid demand30 Oct 2026fresh
    • State commercial power sales1 Aug 2026stale
    • Henry Hub gas price1 Sept 2026fresh
    • Transformer and turbine imports—key parked
    • Local votes against—kept by hand

    How the map is kept

    • The week runs Saturday to Friday, the same week as the compute board.
    • Switched on means filed or measured: a filing that says energized or delivered, a price the Tape wrote, a figure a statistics office published.
    • Announced means a promise, an order or a deal: hollow until something switches on.
    • Stuck means a date moved, a promise came due unmet, a price feed went quiet, or a rule or vote added a constraint.
    • Filed figures, ERCOT’s meter, Epoch’s estimate and EIA’s generator data are separate families and are never added together.
    • A floor with no rows says so. A series we list but cannot read shows as not read, with the reason.
    • Power and the grid are here as context for the build-out. Nothing on this page is a trade idea.