Massive AI Buildout Poses Latest Inflation Threat as Consumers Pay More for Laptops and Electricity - Broadband Breakfast

WASHINGTON, July 13, 2026 (AP) — American consumers — and the Federal Reserve — are being hit with another high-cost headache.

The gusher of investment in data centers — likely topping $700 billion this year — to power artificial intelligence has made memory chips, computer processors and other equipment, as well as electricity, more expensive. Economists expect it will continue to push up inflation at least through the end of this year.

The agreements with Hummingbird AI Holdings and Ernst and Young were signed on Friday, the first such agreements with a Caribbean country.

Pew said in a recent paper that states have multiple avenues for shoring up their workforces ahead of BEAD

Commissioner Anna Gomez has been a vocal opponent of the proposed changes.

Nathan Johnson says the state’s subgrant selection process ‘sure looks like’ corruption.