According to DCD, Amazon has filed a formal complaint against Berkshire Hathaway-owned utility PacifiCorp with Oregon’s Public Utility Commission. The cloud giant claims PacifiCorp has failed to meet power obligations dating back to 2021 for AWS data centers in the state. One AWS campus reportedly has “insufficient power,” a second has no power whatsoever, and PacifiCorp has refused to complete standard contracting for two additional campuses. Amazon operates its US West 2 Oregon region from these facilities, which include at least four data centers across Morrow and Umatilla counties. The company had previously explored using natural gas fuel cells in 2023 but withdrew those plans in June 2024.
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<h2 id="power-crunch”>The AI power crunch is real
This isn’t just about one utility dispute – it’s a warning sign for the entire tech industry. AI compute demands are absolutely crushing existing power infrastructure. Amazon‘s Oregon facilities support some of AWS’s most critical services, and having campuses without reliable power is basically a nightmare scenario for cloud providers.
Think about it: Amazon signed a power purchase agreement for a 98.4MW wind farm in February 2024, bought 400 acres for expansion in early 2025, and still can’t get enough juice. That tells you how desperate the situation has become. The company even admitted its new Arlington site might take years to get operational because of power and permit challenges.
What this means for the cloud arms race
Here’s the thing – every major cloud provider is racing to build capacity for AI workloads, but they’re all hitting the same wall. Data centers need massive amounts of reliable power, and utilities simply weren’t prepared for this level of demand. We’re seeing similar stories in Virginia, Texas, and other data center hubs.
Amazon’s complaint suggests they’re getting creative with solutions. They tried fuel cells, they’re buying renewable energy directly, but they still need that grid connection. And if a company with Amazon’s resources and negotiating power can’t get what it needs, what does that mean for smaller players?
The timing couldn’t be worse. AI adoption is accelerating, and cloud providers are promising customers endless compute. But the physical infrastructure to support those promises? That’s becoming the real bottleneck. This utility dispute might seem like a local issue, but it’s actually a glimpse into the fundamental constraints facing the entire AI revolution.
