Chevron, Williams Ride AI Power Boom as Gas-Turned-Electrons Become Intelligence Price

Chevron and Williams have emerged as big winners in the race to power America's artificial-intelligence boom, according to WIRED. The two companies, which sell neither chips nor software but the molecules and megawatts that data centers consume, have seen their assets revalued from toll booths to AI infrastructure.

Chevron's transformation began with a 20-year power purchase agreement with Microsoft, a contract it now markets as the template for a broader gas-to-power business. The company is building a 2.5-gigawatt gas-fired plant collocated with a West Texas data center, targeted to be operating by 2027.

Williams has committed more than $5 billion to a power-innovation platform of fast-deploying gas turbines sited directly at data centers, behind the utility meter. The company is also weighing a move upstream: it's considering buying gas-producing assets to secure long-term supply for hyperscaler contracts.

The boom has its critics, with Global Energy Monitor warning that a substantial share of proposed gas capacity is speculative and may not materialize at projected scales. Climate scientists have flagged the Chevron-Microsoft deal as locking in two decades of emissions.