America’s Energy Surge: Powering the AI Century

In modern history, many periods have been defined by technology that fundamentally changed business practices.

In the 18th century, the steam engine allowed the first modern factories to be built and started the Industrial Revolution…

The 19th century saw the rise of many technologies that ushered in new phases of industrialization around the world. The railroad, advanced steel production, the combustion engine, and coal-fired power plants sped up the pace of business, travel, and everyday life.

And in the 20th century, we saw the rise of air travel, the modern assembly line, and, later, the development of the internet. The internet created as profound a change to how we live and work as the invention of fire in the Stone Age.

The next great technology is already here… artificial intelligence, or AI.

The 21st century will be the AI century. Even in its infancy, AI has changed the game. The technology has been widely available for only a few short years, but the global market is already worth $390 billion. And the industry’s value is expected to quintuple by the end of the decade.

But AI has one serious problem. And it’s likely not what you think…

Our hardware is capable of incredibly complex tasks.

Our software is up to the challenge.

But our energy grid is not.

America’s energy grid is practically ancient, and the past four years of Biden’s feckless energy policy certainly didn’t help.

See, AI is a glutton for electricity.

A ChatGPT query uses 10 to 25 times more energy than an ordinary Google search. Users ask ChatGPT roughly 10 million questions daily, which consumes the same amount of energy as it takes to power 180,000 American homes. And that’s just one AI service.

Generative AI will use 10 times more energy by 2026 than it did in 2023.

Google’s AI uses the same amount of energy in a single hour as is needed to fully charge over 25,000 electric cars.

In fact, data centers alone already use more power than most countries. According to 2024 data from the International Energy Agency (IEA), in 2022 data centers consumed 470 terawatt-hours of energy. That’s more power than 185 of the world’s 195 countries consume, including the United Kingdom, Brazil, and Germany.

In short, the amount of energy needed to run AI is enormous. By 2030, our energy needs could be 50 times greater than they are today.

America is facing an energy crisis in the AI arms race. And there is only one solution…

Drill, Baby, Drill!

If there’s one thing we can be certain of in President Donald Trump’s second term, it’s that his policies will be a boon for the energy industry. The rising tide will lift all ships: nuclear, coal, oil, etc…

But the biggest beneficiaries will be natural gas companies like The Williams Companies Inc. (NYSE: WMB)…

America possesses enormous reserves of natural gas. We have a full 3,000 trillion cubic feet of it underground right now. That’s more than Saudi Arabia or Russia. It’s enough to fill the Grand Canyon 20 times over. We have more than we could ever use to fuel our AI boom while exporting it to Europe.

Trump plans to unlock America’s latent energy potential by reversing former President Joe Biden’s policy and telling Europe to BUY more U.S. oil and gas or face tariffs. We have the perfect setup for a big run in natural gas, and Williams is perhaps the best way to play it.

The company’s business is simple: It extracts and transports natural gas. It owns a vast network, 30,000 miles of pipelines, and dozens of facilities that connect the United States’ natural gas-producing regions from coast to coast.

The company extracts natural gas from most of America’s major gas basins and the Gulf of Mexico, also known as the Gulf of America. It transports natural gas through its pipelines, keeps it in its storage facilities, and exports it through America’s major energy hub, the Gulf Coast.

In all, Williams handles 30% of the natural gas Americans use every day.

And we do use it every day. Natural gas is both an efficient energy source and a method of heating homes. As an energy source, it’s far and away the cleanest variety of fossil fuel. It produces less than half the greenhouse gases of coal and significantly less than oil. As a heating source, it’s four times cheaper than electricity and the cheapest method of heating a home by far.

And Williams is dedicated to improving the environmental friendliness of natural gas as well. The company recently invested $50 million toward carbon capture technology. ION Clean Energy is developing technology to capture carbon in the air after fossil fuels are burned. That should give the green lobbies even less to complain about. Not only does natural gas produce less greenhouse gases than its fossil fuel counterparts, but now we can pull the carbon emissions it does produce out of the air.

What’s more, carbon capture is just one of Williams’ 30 projects and potential projects in the works between now and 2032, which represent a backlog of about $10.2 billion. And those are projects it accumulated through four years of an administration openly hostile to fossil fuels. Just imagine what Williams will be capable of under a friendly administration… 

The company’s already impressive balance sheet will only grow… and grow quickly.

Cooking With Gas

Let’s start with revenue. Williams recorded revenue of $3.1 billion in Q1 2025, the most recently recorded quarter. That’s up 11.9% over Q1 205’s. Net income surged 9.3% year over year to $691 million in the same period.  

The company also posted EPS growth of 9.1% year over year in Q1 2025. That’s a strong continuation of the 76.7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in diluted EPS over the past five years.  

Other good news for Williams’ finances includes a 31% operating margin, net cash reserves of $100 million, and a dividend that yields 3.5% at current prices. That’s nearly triple the yield of the average S&P 500 stock.  

Considering Williams’ present success and the new presidential administration’s pro-energy standpoint, the opportunity here speaks for itself. I expect this company to be in for a very good four years. You will be too if you buy in now. 

Action to Take: Buy The Williams Companies Inc. (NYSE: WMB) at market. Use a 25% trailing stop to protect your principal and your profits.