Microsoft Loses Its Exclusive Hold on OpenAI
Microsoft and OpenAI announced Monday they have rewritten their seven-year partnership, ending Microsoft’s exclusive right to sell OpenAI models. OpenAI can now run its products on Amazon, Google, or any other cloud provider, though Azure stays the default unless Microsoft cannot deliver what a workload needs. Microsoft keeps a non-exclusive license to OpenAI intellectual property through 2032 and continues to collect a capped revenue share through 2030. Microsoft shares fell nearly 3% on the announcement. Alphabet and Amazon ticked up.
Every grid forecast and substation buildout for the past three years assumed OpenAI compute would concentrate inside Microsoft’s data center footprint. That assumption just expired. Power planners now have to model OpenAI workloads landing in any of three hyperscale clouds, which means more parallel power deals, not fewer.
Watch which AWS or Google Cloud site brings the first OpenAI workload online, because the hyperscaler that moves first resets the price for every AI power deal that follows. (Bloomberg)
Duke Energy Files the Largest Utility Capital Plan in U.S. History
Duke Energy unveiled a $103 billion five-year capital plan on April 24, the largest spending program ever filed by a regulated U.S. utility. Roughly 60% of the budget funds new generation, including 5 GW of new natural gas in the Carolinas and Indiana and 4.5 GW of new battery storage by 2031. Since November, Duke has signed 1.5 GW in new data center service agreements with customers including Microsoft and Compass, lifting committed data center load to 4.5 GW. Data centers will drive roughly 75% of the economic-development load growth Duke projects through 2030. (Fortune)
Siemens Energy Raises 2026 Outlook on AI Power Demand
Siemens Energy raised its full-year guidance on April 23, citing AI data center demand. The company now expects revenue growth of 14% to 16%, net profit around €4 billion, and free cash flow before tax of roughly €8 billion, nearly double the prior forecast. Second-quarter order intake hit a record €17.75 billion, with Grid Technologies orders up 41% and Gas Services up 32% year over year. Grid Technologies is the unit that builds the transformers, switchgear, and high-voltage equipment that connects new generation to large industrial loads. (Bloomberg)
Kevin O’Leary’s 7.5 GW Wonder Valley Project Nears Approval in Utah
The Stratos Project, a hyperscale data center campus on 40,000 acres in Box Elder County, Utah, moved closer to final approval this week. The buildout proposes 7.5 gigawatts of new power generation, almost twice the entire state’s current electricity consumption of about 4 GW. Kevin O’Leary’s O’Leary Digital is the developer, with West GenCo handling permitting and natural gas access through interstate pipelines. Financing terms, anchor tenants, and the actual gas supply for a project this size remain unannounced. (Salt Lake Tribune)
FERC Punts Large-Load Interconnection Rule to June
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission confirmed last week it will rule on data center interconnection reform in June, missing the April 30 deadline that Energy Secretary Chris Wright set in February. The proposed rule would let large loads of 75 MW or more file joint interconnection requests alongside new generation, compressing what is now a multi-year sequential process into a single review. State regulators at NARUC have warned the federal proposal encroaches on traditional state authority over retail load and rate design. The two-month delay is short, but it pushes any actual queue impact into late 2026 at earliest. (Utility Dive)
U.S. in Talks with Engie to Cancel Three More Offshore Wind Leases
Engie confirmed on April 26 that it is in talks with the U.S. government to cancel its three remaining offshore wind leases, following TotalEnergies’ lease surrender in March. The discussions stem from the Interior Department’s December 2025 stop-work order on all five offshore wind projects under construction, an order currently blocked by temporary injunctions in five federal courts. Every canceled lease removes potential offshore generation from the East Coast queue, where regional grid operator PJM has flagged a capacity shortfall heading into the early 2030s. (Maritime Executive)
The AI Power Bill Has Reached Voters
A CBS News investigation on April 25 profiled Atlanta resident Carolyn Kayne, whose monthly electricity bill has nearly doubled in two years as Georgia Power filed six rate hikes in three years, citing data center load growth. A Fortune poll published the same week found a majority of U.S. households now connect data center expansion with rising electricity costs. Public sentiment is becoming the new constraint that hyperscalers will spend the rest of 2026 trying to manage. (CBS News)
Have fun this week,
Will
Sources
OpenAI Breaks Free From Exclusive AI Pact With Microsoft | Bloomberg
OpenAI Shakes Up Partnership With Microsoft, Capping Revenue Share Payments | CNBC
Utility Giant Duke Energy Plans to Spend Industry Record $103 Billion on Growth | Fortune
At $103B, Duke Claims Largest Spending Plan of Any Regulated US Utility | Utility Dive
Siemens Energy Raises Outlook on Strong AI-Driven Demand | Bloomberg
FERC Tees Up June Decision on Data Center Interconnection Reform | Utility Dive
U.S. Is Negotiating to Cancel More Offshore Wind Leases | Maritime Executive