Morgan Stanley: Nvidia and Broadcom shielded from the energy crisis hitting the AI chip supply chain

Morgan Stanley said on Monday that Nvidia and Broadcom are relatively insulated from the worsening energy crisis at U.S. data centres, but warned that any delay caused in the deployment of artificial intelligence systems could affect manufacturers of memory, optics and other secondary chip components, as Reuters reports.

The bank last month estimated that U.S. data centre developers face a net power shortfall of 34% by 2028 — equal to 32 gigawatts — even after measures such as “behind-the-meter” generation and fuel cells.

The flood of artificial intelligence has driven billions in investment in data centres, but the large computing and energy needs of generative AI are increasingly running into U.S. power supply constraints.

Goldman Sachs has also expressed concern about obstacles to the expansion of data centres, although it foresees limited short-term impact from political opposition — unlike Morgan Stanley, which sees combined challenges in workforce, energy and politics.

Morgan Stanley does not expect these obstacles to jeopardise the 2027 forecasts for Nvidia and Broadcom, citing their visibility over chip deployment, geographic expansion and coordination between data centres, semiconductor suppliers and the energy supply chain.

But if chip capacity cannot be deployed because of a lack of power, customers may postpone deliveries or cancel orders — with memory, optics, power management and analogue components the most exposed to inventory disruptions.