"America is in the middle of an AI boom, and that AI boom requires a lot of electric power, and all of that power, at one point or another, passes through a transformer. These key pieces of infrastructure are hard to make. The work requires patience, skill and people. And just like so many other key cogs of the whole system, the workers who make transformers are straining under a huge demand right now."
"Transformers are this kind of nitty-gritty, basic piece of equipment for the grid. They might be as small as, like, a trash can that's on an electric pole or even as large as buildings. But what they do is they are basically changing voltage, so they're either increasing or decreasing voltage so that electricity can move around the country."
"There's been quite a lot of investment just in the last handful of years. I think there's been maybe somewhere in the neighborhood of more than $3 billion in investment to try to manufacture more transformers of varying sizes in the U.S. But to do that, you know, you need to build your facilities. You need to hire a lot of people. They take specialty materials. It's not just any kind of steel, so it's hard for them to just increase their supply chain."
Rapid growth in AI is increasing electricity demand, and much of that power flows through transformers. Transformers vary from small pole-mounted units to building-sized equipment that change voltage so electricity can move across the grid. Manufacturing transformers requires specialized skills, extensive copper winding, specialty materials, and patient, trained workers. Significant investment—over $3 billion in recent years—aims to expand U.S. production, but companies must build facilities, recruit trained labor, and secure nonstandard materials. Supply-chain constraints and the intensive labor demands are causing strain as manufacturers try to meet rapidly rising demand.
Read at www.npr.org
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]