Notes on the AI data center supply chain
The catalog answers "who makes this part". These posts answer the questions that follow: why a part is a schedule risk rather than a shopping item, what an anonymous SEC disclosure actually tells you, and where the confident-sounding numbers in this industry come from. Every post is built from the same rows the rest of the site is built from — the tables you see inside a post are the live catalog, not a snapshot pasted in.
Start with Learn for the four chains end to end,How it fits together for the wiring between them, or theGB300 NVL72 teardown for one rack in detail. Subscribe: RSS · JSON Feed · tags: bottlenecks, concentration, construction, coverage, filings, foundry, memory, method, news, nvl72, part-of-the-day, power, scale, supercomputers, supply-constraint, teardown, transformers, update
- analysis 2026-10-25Part of the day: HV switchgear, GIS, breakers, protection relays
Part of the day: HV switchgear, GIS, breakers, protection relays — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-10-24Part of the day: Large power transformers (345–765 kV) & substations
Part of the day: Large power transformers (345–765 kV) & substations — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-10-23Part of the day: Fire detection & suppression
Part of the day: Fire detection & suppression — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-10-22Part of the day: Building management, controls, environmental sensors
Part of the day: Building management, controls, environmental sensors — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-10-21Part of the day: Heat reuse & district heating interfaces
Part of the day: Heat reuse & district heating interfaces — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-10-20Part of the day: Water treatment, reuse, consumption
Part of the day: Water treatment, reuse, consumption — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-10-19October's shortage headlines were about memory and chip tools, not GPUs
27 of October's 35 supply-constraint news items named a part we already flag as tight or constrained. Memory and chip tools led; GPUs and power lagged.
- analysis 2026-10-19Part of the day: Facility water loop hardware
Part of the day: Facility water loop hardware — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-10-18Part of the day: Air handling, economizers, filtration
Part of the day: Air handling, economizers, filtration — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-10-17Part of the day: CRAH / CRAC / fan walls / in-row units
Part of the day: CRAH / CRAC / fan walls / in-row units — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-10-16Part of the day: Dry coolers, adiabatic/evaporative units, cooling towers, fans & motors
Part of the day: Dry coolers, adiabatic/evaporative units, cooling towers, fans & motors — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-10-15Part of the day: Chillers & compressors
Part of the day: Chillers & compressors — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-10-14Part of the day: Rack/row cooling controls & software
Part of the day: Rack/row cooling controls & software — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-10-13Part of the day: Leak detection, flow & pressure sensing
Part of the day: Leak detection, flow & pressure sensing — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-10-12Part of the day: Fluids & coolant treatment
Part of the day: Fluids & coolant treatment — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-10-11Part of the day: Immersion cooling systems
Part of the day: Immersion cooling systems — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-10-10Part of the day: Rear-door heat exchangers
Part of the day: Rear-door heat exchangers — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-10-09Part of the day: CDU internals: plate heat exchangers, pumps, filters
Part of the day: CDU internals: plate heat exchangers, pumps, filters — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-10-08Part of the day: Coolant distribution units
Part of the day: Coolant distribution units — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-10-07Part of the day: Hoses, tubing, fittings, valves
Part of the day: Hoses, tubing, fittings, valves — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-10-06Part of the day: Quick disconnects
Part of the day: Quick disconnects — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-10-05Nine supercomputers, six countries, one foundry
Six countries and four chip designers built these nine machines. Fugaku and JUPITER even commissioned their own processors. All nine still fab at TSMC.
- analysis 2026-10-05Part of the day: Rack manifolds
Part of the day: Rack manifolds — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-10-04Part of the day: Direct-to-chip cold plates
Part of the day: Direct-to-chip cold plates — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-10-03Part of the day: Air-cooled heatsinks & vapor chambers
Part of the day: Air-cooled heatsinks & vapor chambers — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-10-02Part of the day: Rack PDUs
Part of the day: Rack PDUs — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-10-01Part of the day: In-rack busbar & power whips
Part of the day: In-rack busbar & power whips — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-30Part of the day: Chassis, rails, rack enclosures
Part of the day: Chassis, rails, rack enclosures — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-29Part of the day: Fans
Part of the day: Fans — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-28Part of the day: Power shelves & PSUs
Part of the day: Power shelves & PSUs — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-27Part of the day: Timing, security & misc board silicon
Part of the day: Timing, security & misc board silicon — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-26Part of the day: BMC & platform firmware
Part of the day: BMC & platform firmware — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-25Part of the day: Passives
Part of the day: Passives — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-24Part of the day: Board-level power: VRMs, power stages, PoL, power semis
Part of the day: Board-level power: VRMs, power stages, PoL, power semis — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-23Part of the day: Board-level connectors & sockets
Part of the day: Board-level connectors & sockets — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-22Part of the day: Copper-clad laminate & PCB materials
Part of the day: Copper-clad laminate & PCB materials — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-21Part of the day: High-layer-count PCBs
Part of the day: High-layer-count PCBs — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-20Part of the day: Motherboards, CPU trays, switch trays
Part of the day: Motherboards, CPU trays, switch trays — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-19Part of the day: GPU baseboards & compute trays
Part of the day: GPU baseboards & compute trays — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-18Part of the day: EMS, system integration & rack-level test
Part of the day: EMS, system integration & rack-level test — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-17Part of the day: Rack-scale systems
Part of the day: Rack-scale systems — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-16Part of the day: Timing & telemetry silicon
Part of the day: Timing & telemetry silicon — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-15Part of the day: DCI / coherent optics
Part of the day: DCI / coherent optics — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-14Part of the day: Fiber, connectors, structured cabling
Part of the day: Fiber, connectors, structured cabling — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-13Part of the day: NVLink copper spine / backplane cartridges
Part of the day: NVLink copper spine / backplane cartridges — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-12Part of the day: Copper: DAC / ACC / AEC cables
Part of the day: Copper: DAC / ACC / AEC cables — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-11Part of the day: Silicon photonics & co-packaged optics
Part of the day: Silicon photonics & co-packaged optics — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-10Part of the day: Optical DSPs, drivers, TIAs
Part of the day: Optical DSPs, drivers, TIAs — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-09The eleven parts that only show up above hyperscale
Eleven of this catalog's 130 part categories never appear below campus scale. Ten of them are power. One is optics.
- analysis 2026-09-09Part of the day: Lasers
Part of the day: Lasers — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-08Part of the day: Optics contract manufacturing
Part of the day: Optics contract manufacturing — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-07Half the supplier bench, a sixth of the coverage
Cooling, power distribution and generation hold 43% of this catalog's supplier placements and drew 16% of three weeks of trade coverage.
- analysis 2026-09-07Part of the day: Optical transceivers
Part of the day: Optical transceivers — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-06Part of the day: Switch systems & white-box ODMs
Part of the day: Switch systems & white-box ODMs — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-05Part of the day: Scale-out switch ASICs
Part of the day: Scale-out switch ASICs — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-04Eight parts of an AI data center have no US-listed supplier at all
163 parts here have three or more listed suppliers. On eight, not one trades in the US — and six sit either directly under the GPU or directly around it.
- analysis 2026-09-04Part of the day: Scale-up fabric
Part of the day: Scale-up fabric — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-03Part of the day: AI storage systems
Part of the day: AI storage systems — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-09-03Eighteen companies cross four layers of this stack. 984 never leave one.
984 of the 1,163 companies on a part here sit in exactly one of the eleven layers. Eighteen reach four or more, and two pairs occupy identical parts.
- analysis 2026-09-02The 2–4 year part: who makes large power transformers
The slowest component in a GW-class campus isn't silicon — it's the 345–765 kV transformer at the fence line.
- analysis 2026-09-02The further you get from the chip, the less of the supply chain is listed
652 of the 1,164 companies on a part here are listed: 87% of the rack layer, 41% of the building shell, and four parts with no listed supplier at all.
- teardown 2026-09-02Every company inside a GB300 NVL72 rack, by exchange
Walking Nvidia's flagship rack from cabinet to cold plate, and sorting the suppliers by where they trade.
- analysis 2026-09-02Part of the day: HDD
Part of the day: HDD — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- explainer 2026-09-02What 'reported' means on this site
Our three-tier confidence system, why most edges start as leads, and how to send a correction.
- analysis 2026-09-01The 17 parts where only one listed company shows up
A query for parts with exactly one publicly listed supplier returns 17 rows. Every one of those 17 edges is an unsourced lead — which is the actual finding.
- analysis 2026-09-01Part of the day: Enterprise SSDs & controllers
Part of the day: Enterprise SSDs & controllers — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-08-31Part of the day: NAND flash
Part of the day: NAND flash — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- explainer 2026-08-31Who depends on whom: reading customer concentration in SEC filings
197 concentration disclosures from 101 suppliers. Two name the customer. Here is what the other 195 are still worth.
- analysis 2026-08-30The five AI data center parts this catalog flags as tight or constrained
Of 130 part categories, five carry a supply flag — and four of them sit on the power side of the fence, not in the rack.
- analysis 2026-08-30Part of the day: PCIe/CXL switches & retimers
Part of the day: PCIe/CXL switches & retimers — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- analysis 2026-08-29Part of the day: CXL controllers & memory expanders
Part of the day: CXL controllers & memory expanders — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.
- update 2026-08-28Introducing the catalog: every part of an AI data center, and who makes it
130 part categories, ~1,200 companies, one graph — how this site works and where to start.
- analysis 2026-08-28Part of the day: Memory interface / buffer chips
Part of the day: Memory interface / buffer chips — what it does, why AI changes demand for it, and who makes it.