FERC just gave SPP the green light to wheel power to data centers — but read the tariff, because the word sitting right next to it is 'temporary.' This is The Data Center Daily. Today: an actual grid-access tool from FERC, a sell-side reality check from Jefferies, and Delaware putting 'bring your own power' into statute. Two branches of government moved on the same bottleneck in one news cycle. After the week I've had cataloging walls, I'm not gonna pretend that's nothing. Let's start with FERC and SPP — the first grid-access move all week that isn't PJM or ERCOT. And it's curtailable. The headline says it plain: a hard supply ceiling. The money showed up, the megawatts didn't. On 'temporary' — in FERC tariff language, that means the service can sunset or get reassigned. It's grid access with no guarantee it sticks. Temporary by whose clock? When the tariff lapses and the load's still sitting there pulling power, who eats the exit cost? SPP's the grid, not a coat check. That's exactly why Delaware matters. The bills say walk in if you want — but carry your own fuel. And here's the part I love — Delaware's draft puts data centers first in line to get cut in an emergency. A legislature put it right in the bill: you get shed first. That locks in the distinction we kept circling on the BDx and PLN deals — 'secured through a utility' versus self-supplied is now in statute, not just on a press release. A moratorium couldn't touch an application already in the queue. This gives the state an actual lever instead. Then Jefferies — demand far outstripping supply despite record hyperscaler capex. Goldman on June 4th worried about capital adequacy; Jefferies flips it. The check clears, and the product still doesn't arrive. And that changes the risk math for the private infrastructure funds underwriting this. If demand is outrunning supply even at record spend, that's a different bet than Goldman framed in early June. Right — you're underwriting energized megawatts, and there aren't enough to go around. TikTok's Thailand approval also got a number today — twenty-five billion in capex. That lands in the same ballpark as Goldman's entire quarterly upward revision, for one country. Approval from a government body isn't signed power and water. Same question I asked on India, just moved east. That's three this week — India, San Angelo, now Thailand. Big capex figure, no in-service date attached. We'll watch for the timeline. The Nvidia-SK Group deal has the same shape, by the way — announcement first, dispatch priority still TBD. FERC moved, Delaware's drafting, Jefferies put a number on the gap. Today got more concrete. But a bill in committee and 'temporary' service still aren't energized capacity. More after this. Here's Energy Central:
Getting the CHILLS: The grid operator will offer a special type of transmission service—known as Conditional High Impact Large Load Service (CHILLS)—to data centers and other large loads. The condition? SPP will curtail CHILLS during grid emergencies or “other unforeseen conditions.” Large loads will participate for up to seven years, giving them time to get firm service in order.
FERC signed off on SPP's CHILLS tariff — Conditional High Impact Large Load Service. Data centers get transmission, but it's curtailable, and capped at seven years before they have to convert to firm service. The acronym writes itself. But it's the first actual grid-access action we've seen outside the PJM and ERCOT frame all week — a FERC tariff, not a board promising to study something. CHILLS. They named it so SPP can curtail you and tell you to chill out. That seven-year window is the part I'd circle — who gets to define temporary, and who eats the exit cost when it sunsets and the load's still sitting there? But here's what I'll actually give them — SPP put the curtailment order right in the tariff. Emergency hits, the data centers get curtailed first. The grid people finally got a tariff that says the hyperscaler is a guest, not the host. That's why today feels different. Back on the 5th you called a faster lane just a shorter wait to the same wall — here, FERC is actually opening a lane, conditions attached. The Economic Times writes:
"Demand for data centers continues to outpace supply, with hyperscaler capex accelerating and chip volume forecasts implying GWs of capacity ahead of feasible data center delivery," the report said. It added that "Demand is not the issue, but the supply chain is."
Jefferies says it plainly: demand outpaces supply, chip volume forecasts imply gigawatts of capacity ahead of feasible data center delivery. The chips are coming faster than the buildings to put them in. And they're calling it structural, not cyclical — meaning record capex alone doesn't close it inside the forecast window. That's a sell-side desk saying the capital is there and the physical product still won't arrive on time. An equity research desk just put a number on what the SPP queue and the voltage failures have been screaming all week. The capex is real. The megawatts aren't energized. Pair that with the FERC-SPP greenlight we just covered — temporary transmission service. Regulators are finally trying to open a way in. Jefferies is the desk telling you what's actually behind it. Not enough. Right — that's the flip side of Goldman's capital-adequacy framing back on the 4th. Goldman asked whether the money was there. Jefferies is saying the money's there and it doesn't matter, because the supply chain physically can't deliver. Which reframes the risk for every private infrastructure fund underwriting this buildout. If the gap is structural, you're financing capacity that energizes on a clock you don't control. This one's from Spotlight Delaware:
Newly-amended House Bill 233 would make data centers the first to be cut off from power in a blackout unless the project includes its own energy generation. It is sponsored by Rep. Frank Burns (D-Pike Creek) and Sen. Stephanie Hansen (D-Middletown).
Delaware just put the curtailment order in the bill. House Bill 233 says data centers are first cut off in a blackout unless they bring their own generation. That's the answer to who gets shed when the grid gets tight. Burns and Hansen are on 233, and there's a second bill, 445, still in committee. The teeth are in the service agreements — developers pay full cost, including transmission upgrades. So after FERC opens SPP a lane this morning, a state legislature shows up and says, fine, walk in — but bring your own fuel, and you're first off the lifeboat. They're writing terms now, not just holding hearings. It mirrors the BDx 'secured power' question we kicked around last week — secured through a utility versus self-supplied. Delaware's now codifying that exact distinction in statute. A bill in committee isn't a built power plant, but today the paperwork started to get teeth. And let's be honest — 'first to take the hit' is one of the most punitive curtailment provisions any state's floated this cycle, per Spotlight Delaware. Critics say it scares the industry off. Good. Make 'em prove the power's real. The question now is whether Delaware's reserve margin even needs this lever, or whether it's PJM-spillover anxiety written into law. Either way, it gives other states a template to copy. Here's Jerry Owens at TechTimes:
Thailand has approved one of the largest data-infrastructure investments in its history, and TikTok is the anchor tenant. The country's Board of Investment cleared six projects worth a combined 958 billion baht — roughly $29 billion — with TikTok's data-center expansion accounting for about 842 billion baht, or $25 billion, according to the Bangkok Post.
Thailand's Board of Investment cleared six projects worth about $29 billion, and TikTok is $25 billion of it — 842 billion baht, anchor tenant, per the Bangkok Post. For scale, that one approval is in the same neighborhood as the entire upward revision Goldman put on quarterly capex earlier this week. One country, one tranche. Approval. Same word we heard in San Angelo and India. A Board of Investment sign-off is not a signed power contract — and Chachoengsao went from rice fields to server farms without anybody showing me the megawatts. Right — it's servers, storage, processing across Bangkok, Samut Prakan, Chachoengsao. What's not in the release is an in-service date, and after the Jefferies piece we just covered, that's the line I'd read first. That's three geographies this week — India, Thailand, Texas — where the announcement landed before the power did. Jefferies just told us demand's outrunning supply even with record spend. This is what that gap looks like on a map. This one's from The Business Times:
Memory chip maker SK Hynix signed a multi-year technology partnership that will see it commit to developing advanced types of memory for global AI data centres, SK Group said. SK Hynix and Nvidia said the agreement, which comes as memory chip makers have been straining to keep up with demand, would enable supply to keep pace with Nvidia’s plans, which have expanded to robotics, personal computers and AI supercomputers.
Quick update on the Nvidia memory-supply ramp — SK Hynix just signed a multi-year partnership to develop advanced memory for AI data centers. Naver, SK Telecom, and Doosan are bundled into the same announcement. No deal values disclosed by anyone. So what we have is Jensen eating pork belly in Seoul and a stack of MOUs. Soju and a baseball pitch. That's the choreography. The substance is HBM4 for the Vera Rubin platform — Nvidia needs Hynix's memory more than Hynix needs the photo op. And it's the same pattern I keep flagging — a partner signs up as customer and supplier in the same handshake. That's a supply negotiation wearing a sales-deal costume. Right — the interesting line is 'multi-year' and 'develop.' Develop means roadmap. None of this is HBM4 shipping into a rack today. Which lands funny against the Jefferies piece we just hit — demand far outstripping supply. Jensen can sign in Seoul all he wants. The memory still has to get fabbed. If you follow AI infrastructure, you might also like Anthropic Pentagon Watch, a daily briefing on Anthropic’s fight with the DoD over Claude, military AI use, autonomous weapons, and AI procurement blacklisting. Find it wherever you listen to podcasts.
If something in today’s briefing made you want the details, we’ve put links to every source in the show notes. They’re there whenever you want to dig a little deeper.
That’s The Data Center Daily for this Tuesday, June 9th. This is a Lantern Podcast.