The AI boom is pushing companies across the economy — from tech giants to automakers — deep into the energy business.

Why it matters: The scramble for electricity has become the gold rush beneath the AI boom, creating enormous financial value and enormous risk if demand falls short.

Driving the news: Electricity — long treated as a cheap, abundant commodity — is suddenly emerging as one of the most valuable strategic assets in business.

• "Everyone to some extent is either dependent on energy as a core input, or they see energy as a huge opportunity," said Brian Janous, who was Microsoft's first energy hire 15 years ago and is now co-founder of data center developer Cloverleaf Infrastructure.

The latest: Ford last month unveiled its expansion into energy storage for data centers and other large power users.

• It launched a new subsidiary called Ford Energy in response to what it calls "the massive demand for domestic energy storage."

Follow the money: Investors are increasingly rewarding companies pivoting to — or doubling down on — the power behind the AI boom. A few recent highlights:

• Ford's stock price rose to its highest level in three years after its rollout of the $2 billion energy business.
• Bloom Energy, long seen as a niche energy player whose tech can deliver on-site power fast, saw its stock price skyrocket more than 1,200% over the past year.
• Fervo Energy, a geothermal startup once viewed as speculative climate tech, surged after going public last month as Wall Street hunts for new electricity sources to feed data centers.
• GE Vernova booked $2.4 billion in electric equipment orders for data centers in the first quarter alone, more than it made all of last year in equivalent sales. Its stock has gone up about 60% this year.

Reality check: Beneath the surging stock prices, trouble is mounting. Opposition to data centers is intensifying rapidly, and some of the biggest projects may never come to fruition.

• "A lot of people are going to lose a lot of money in this space," Janous said — not because of a lack of demand, but because so many megaprojects are chasing that demand.
• He pointed to a troubled project in Texas that bills itself as the largest data center proposal in the world and another proposal in Utah by celebrity investor Kevin O'Leary.

Friction point: The number of data centers canceled after pushback reached a record high in the first quarter of this year, according to data by Heatmap Pro.

• "It's getting a lot worse," Janous said about the opposition, sounding far more negative than he did in an Axios interview from February. He cited community concerns about water use, air pollution and noise as top worries.

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Gigascale Capital, the VC firm founded by ex-Meta CTO Mike Schroepfer, just announced a new $250 million fund to back startups "rebuilding the physical economy for climate impact."

Why it matters: It marks an evolution of the climate-focused firm Schroepfer launched in 2023 that supports early-stage startups.

• The new fund is Gigascale's first backed by outside institutions and organizations (which it didn't immediately name).

The big picture: The combo of rapid electrification, industrial re-shoring, AI and extreme weather is "exposing the limits of physical systems built for a different era," today's announcement states.

• Gigascale is focusing on where constraints are "most acute," like clean energy, automation, grid infrastructure, and supply chains to support them.

Driving the news: The new institutional fund unveiled today is already deploying capital.

• The portfolio includes Heron Power, the advanced transformer startup founded by former Tesla exec Drew Baglino; micro-reactor startup Radiant; and rare earth magnet recycler Solcoa.

State of play: Part of the investment thesis is that climate benefits of new tech are an offshoot of better performance that breaks through into the market.

• "Solar went from 40 gigawatts a year to 600 in a decade because it got cheaper, not because it got more virtuous," Schroepfer said in a statement.

What's next: While Gigascale works with early-stage startups, it plans to "opportunistically" complement this strategy, "enabling the firm to support founders from first check through scaled deployment," the rollout states.

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🚙 President Trump rescinded two 1970s executive orders that restricted off-road vehicle use on public lands.

• Why it matters: His order Friday claims the action will remove barriers to energy and timber production and utility maintenance.

⛏️ A White House memo provides federal authority to offer higher pay — up to $400,000 annually — for up to 400 positions linked to national security.

• Why it matters: Officials are keen to hire more talent to help boost access to critical minerals, the memo Friday states.

🚘 Xavier Becerra, who is leading the polls in California's governor's race, isn't committing to stand behind the state's goal of phasing out gas-powered car sales by 2035, Politico reports.

• Why it matters: California is by far the country's largest auto market, and it's the latest sign of aggressive climate goals coming under pressure in various states.
• What's next: The primary is tomorrow.

📜 Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) is ordering state agencies to create a "higher bar" for data center development that protects natural resources and utility ratepayers.

• Why it matters: Governors from both parties are increasingly imposing new guidelines — of varying stringency — amid a backlash to the AI data center boom. The Salt Lake Tribune has more on Cox's order.

♨️ The House may act on two bills this week designed to speed leasing and permitting of geothermal projects on federal lands.

• State of play: The measures are on the suspension calendar, which means a two-thirds vote is required. The suspension calendar is typically used for noncontroversial measures.

↩️ The SEC on Friday proposed to repeal a Biden-era rule that would have forced many public companies to disclose climate-related risks and emissions.

• Why it matters: The rule — which never took effect amid court battles — was among the major Biden-era efforts to stitch climate into financial oversight.

🐠 Scoop: Endurance Energy closed $25 million to $30 million this year in seed funding to develop undersea geothermal energy projects. Go deeper

🚛 Scoop: Harbinger Motors, a manufacturer of medium-duty electric trucks, is working with Goldman Sachs on a potential IPO. Go deeper

💰 Scoop: Fusion developer Avalanche Energy has hired Jefferies to prepare for an IPO that could come later this year. Go deeper

⚛️ Newcleo, a nuclear power and fuel developer, is going public via a SPAC merger that values the company at about $2.4 billion as it looks to expand in the U.S. Announcement ... WSJ coverage

🤝 Data center investor DigitalBridge is acquiring ArcLight Capital Partners, an energy-focused private equity firm, in a $1.05 billion deal. Go deeper

🚗 Ride-hailing and autonomous EV charging and infrastructure firms Voltera and Revel are merging.

• The combined firm will have 1,000 charging stalls operational and under development across 11 major U.S. metro markets, they said. Announcement

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"People get this idea that they want to build the world's largest data centers. Before they even break ground, I'm going to build 20 of the world's most medium-sized data centers."