The term describes when a startup has proven its tech, but hasn't raised enough money to show it can work profitably at scale. Many startups fail to ever move past this point, and end up dying off.
"After analyzing a detailed pipeline of data center projects, we predict an average global growth rate of 17% per year in data-center-related power demand between 2022 and 2030," the report states. In the US, that average growth rate jumps to 25%. By 2030, data centers could account for more than 14% of the US's total power demand, even with gains in energy efficiency from new chips and sustainable data center infrastructure.