Business News Tech AI US AI data centre startups raise $33.5 billion in 2026 amid power constraints: Report
US AI data centre startups raise $33.5 billion in 2026 amid power constraints: Report
The report said investors are increasingly backing technologies that combine energy supply with computing infrastructure as power availability emerges as a major challenge for the expansion of AI data centres.
US startups developing technologies to address power and computing constraints in artificial intelligence (AI) data centres raised $33.5 billion in funding by early October 2026, nearly double the total raised in 2025, according to a Morgan Stanley report. The report said investors are increasingly backing technologies that combine energy supply with computing infrastructure as power availability emerges as a major challenge for the expansion of AI data centres. "Venture funding for this universe has accelerated sharply in 2026, reaching $33.5 billion by early October, nearly double the 2025 total," the report said.
The report added that the next phase of AI infrastructure development is shifting beyond access to computing capacity towards integrated systems that coordinate power, computing, networking and cooling. "Power is the key constraint," the report said, highlighting the growing importance of technologies that can improve efficiency and help data centres secure reliable electricity. Startups covered in the report have raised more than $50 billion since the beginning of 2024 across four areas: expanding power supply, improving computing performance per unit of electricity, integrating power and computing systems, and developing new data centre designs and locations. More than 80 per cent of the funding raised in 2026 went to companies working to expand power availability and improve computing performance relative to electricity consumption.
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