AI firms demand $5 million daily penalty for data center delays, citing power bottlenecks

AI data center tenants are now demanding penalties exceeding $5 million per day if developers fail to deliver power and facilities on time, up from around $1 million earlier this year. A SoftBank-backed 10-gigawatt campus in Ohio for OpenAI offers delayed rent credits that could reach 640 free rent days after a full year's delay, highlighting power as the main obstacle to new data center construction.