Bangladesh, Sept. 2 -- Americas artificial intelligence ambitions are colliding with an old-fashioned problem: there is not enough reliable electricity to power the future Washington says it wants.

The artificial intelligence revolution is often described in terms of algorithms, chips, data and computing power. But beneath all of it lies a much less glamorous requirement: electricity-and lots of it.

Across the United States, data centers are expanding rapidly to support the AI boom. At the same time, policymakers are demanding a revival of domestic manufacturing, expanded defense production, new factories and greater capacity to process critical minerals at home. Each of these ambitions requires enormous amounts of dependable electricit...