Tag Archives: Torben Hansen

That is the setting, but before we go there, a little reminder from past blogs. Just so you know I wasn’t kidding. On January 29th I wrote ‘And the bubble said ‘Bang’’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2025/01/29/and-the-bubble-said-bang/) as well as ‘What do bubbles do?’ on November 1st 2025 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2025/11/01/what-do-bubbles-do/), so this is not out of the blue. Yet several facts were revealed which requires me to give you the setting of power shortages which I raised in ‘As limits are reached’ on June 29th 2024 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2024/06/29/as-limits-are-reached/), so this are the settings I warned people about and now we see

So, it started today with a person named Torben Hansen on LinkedIn giving us “Oracle just shelved a €2 billion Al datacenter project. Amazon paused €7 billion in investments. Not because of tech limitations or lack of capital – but because they can’t get electricity. In Frankfurt – Europe’s digital heartland – new Al data centers face 8-13 year wait times for grid connections. Here’s the brutal reality:” as well as “Germany’s electricity: €0.25-0.30/kWh vs €0.05-0.07 in Asia (3-6x more expensive) GPT-4 training consumed 51,773+ MWh of energy One datacenter powering Al needs 4 gigawatts
Additional cost per training run: €500M+
Germany’s Al ranking: Dropped from #3 to #9 globally in 2 years
Imagine having world-class talent, billions in investment, and world-leading research – then telling companies “sorry, we don’t have the power lines.” That’s Germany in 2025.
While the US adds 400+ MW of Al capacity annually, Germany accepts ZERO new data centers until 2030. The result? Our brightest minds migrate. Research stays. Jobs leave.”

So, the ‘presentation’ reflects what I foretold. But now the sad part, there is no news on any of this. There is even a ‘Google set to reveal “largest ever” investment plan for Germany – report’ a mere 4 days ago (at https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/google-set-to-reveal-largest-ever-investment-plan-for-germany-report/) this is why I check EVERYTHING. The setting from both Amazon and Oracle cannot be vetted, but a mere 4 days ago (as well) we are given “But Oracle stock is now trading down around 25% from its 52-week high as investors grow critical of artificial intelligence (AI) spending. Oracle is not alone. Last week, Meta Platforms sold off because investors didn’t like how its operating expenses were outpacing revenue growth.” That too was predicted and it is the effect of a bubble, so to say the stock is going bubblelicious. But that does not reflect on who is giving us the facts and who is giving us the runaround. I am trying to give you the facts. The second fact that seems to ‘contradict’ the ‘facts’ by Torben Hansen as the DCD gives us (at previous given address) “Amazon Web Services (AWS), meanwhile, committed some $9.44bn to its Frankfurt cloud region in June 2024, and a further $8.47bn to establishing a European sovereign cloud in the country, which was launched as a separate entity earlier this year.” So something is amiss. I still believe in the predictions I gave you all, but a bubble tends to be presented at the moment it goes boom. Yet a week ago (at https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/lacking-grid-access-major-obstacle-germanys-energy-transition-technologies-associations) we are given ‘Lacking grid access major obstacle for Germany’s energy transition technologies – associations’ with “Germany needs to “significantly improve access to grid connections” for electric vehicle charging stations, storage facilities and large heat pumps, a group of 13 associations from the energy, housing and consumer protection sectors said in a joint appeal. “Industry, commerce and private households are ready to invest, build and transform,” the group wrote. “But without access to a modern grid infrastructure, many projects remain unimplemented.”” As well as “Germany’s lagging electricity grid expansion remains a key hurdle for the shift to renewables. Electricity retailers have warned that significant delays in connecting EV charging points and solar PV installations to the local power grid are putting the brakes on the country’s energy transition.” So there are issues, but I do not see any shortages that would halt data centers and Oracle gave us in may that millions are invested in both Germany and the Netherlands. I reckon that there would be clear signals if the presented facts were actually true. So whilst I am really reeling for a “told you so” setting, even a squared setting of told you so, there is a larger setting that requires all our attentions. The verification and validation of presented facts requires checking at nearly every bend, curve and turn of the way. So whilst the cartoon image is highly entertaining, it is all it is, entertaining. 

But I do like to check all the ins and outs of statements thrown my way and in this case I though I would get to loudly go ‘told you so’ and in the end I cannot yet do that and that is the setting that I face today. I till believe that this bubble comes crashing down, but in its own right, not by presenting (what I perceive to be) false settings towards at least one titan in the IT business who has always steered a straight course. 

And in the final setting we see that “hyperscale centers requiring 100 megawatts or more”, how much more is really depending on the centre, but to set the power ‘demand’ to 40 times that for an AI centre becomes debatable, especially as both the Netherlands and Germany have a good grasp on the energy they have and what is required. So I am seeing all kinds of red flags at present. And I still have the ‘told you so’ setting because verification and validation are pretty important markers in the AI field. So the next move is on the Media and to run down the truth of both German energy as well as Amazon and Oracle, but that is merely my point of view. Have a great day.