New Study: Who AI Recommends to Power Data Centers

Tigercomm asked ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews who is winning the race to power AI data centers. In 5 of 7 markets, AI gave gas the edge.

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30 prompts. 30 days. 3 AI platforms. 7 markets. September 15 to October 14, 2026.

Presented by Melissa Baldwin, Senior Vice President.

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AI Gave Gas the Edge in 5 of 7 Data Center Markets

AI mostly recommended gas companies, local utilities, and data center developers. No renewable developer made its top 10 most-recommended companies. For clean energy, that’s a communications problem, and it’s fixable. The race isn’t close yet.

AI’s Verdict in Each Market (104 Answers)

“Who is winning the race to power AI data centers: oil and gas companies or clean energy companies?”

In weekly runs of this question, 65 of 104 answers gave gas the edge. In 5 markets, not one said clean energy is winning. Clean energy “won” only in Chicago and Santa Clara, and there AI credited nuclear power and the city-owned utility, not renewable developers.

AI’s Verdict in Each Market (104 Answers)
Row	Gas is winning	Gas now, clean later	Mixed / neither	Clean is winning
ERCOT (Dallas)	Gas is winning: 9Gas now, clean later: 5
ERCOT (Odessa)	Gas is winning: 9Gas now, clean later: 4Mixed / neither: 2
PJM (Ashburn)	Gas is winning: 5Gas now, clean later: 7Mixed / neither: 3
WECC (Cheyenne)	Gas is winning: 5Gas now, clean later: 7Mixed / neither: 3
PJM (Philadelphia)	Gas is winning: 4Gas now, clean later: 6Mixed / neither: 5
PJM (Chicago)	Gas is winning: 1Gas now, clean later: 2Mixed / neither: 3Clean is winning: 9
CAISO (Santa Clara)	Gas now, clean later: 1Mixed / neither: 6Clean is winning: 8

Dallas and Odessa, Texas (ERCOT); Ashburn, Va., Philadelphia, and Chicago (PJM); Santa Clara, Calif. (CAISO); Cheyenne, Wyo. (WECC)

Gas Outpaced Renewables 2.4 to 1

When buyers asked which companies to call, AI recommended gas, fuel cell, and turbine companies about 2.4 times as often as renewable, storage, and microgrid companies. Renewables ranked fourth, behind data center developers and utilities.

Gas, fuel cells & turbines: 3,368
Renewables, storage & microgrids: 1,425

3 of 4 Citations Come From Third Parties

Press, public records, experts, directories, and social media. We counted 34,824 citations in AI’s answers, from 4,803 websites.

Local Utilities Led in 6 of 7 Markets

In 6 of 7 markets, the local utility was AI’s most-recommended company. Same question, different winner in every market.

No One Owns the Renewables Question Yet

Asked which renewable or storage companies are best known for fast data center deployment, 24 of 55 answers (44%) named none.

The Pages AI Quotes Have Numbers

Gas, fuel cell, and turbine companies’ own websites were cited about 5 times as often as every solar, wind, and storage developer’s site combined, and both let AI crawlers in. ChatGPT quoted Bloom Energy’s “as little as 90 days” almost word for word. One Energy Dome partnership release was cited 122 times.

Source: Spyglasses AI Data Center Study. 30 prompts on ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews, Sept. 15 to Oct. 14, 2026, in the 7 markets above; no MISO or Southeast market. Race chart: 5 weekly runs per platform per market (104 answers; Dallas has 14). Recommendation counts are lower bounds; in Philadelphia the top two were a near tie (PECO 163, Constellation at least 161). Company types and answer coding are ours. To cite: Tigercomm, Spyglasses AI Data Center Study, 2026, tigercomm.us/ai-data-center-study.

Who Ran the Study

Tigercomm is a PR and marketing communications firm that works only with clean energy and climate tech companies. For 23+ years, 190+ companies have turned to us. Melissa Baldwin, our Senior Vice President, has 20+ years in energy and climate communications, specializing in media relations, public affairs, and energy policy.

This study would not exist without the team from our AI visibility measurement partner, Spyglasses. Thank you for making it possible.

We also published the Cleantech 100 AI Visibility Report, on how AI describes TIME’s top greentech companies. See our AI visibility services.

Want to know what AI says about your company? Melissa can walk you through it in 30 minutes.

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Melissa Baldwin

Senior Vice President

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What did the AI Data Center Study find?

AI says gas is winning. We asked ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews who is winning the race to power AI data centers. 65 of 104 answers gave gas the edge, and gas led in 5 of 7 markets. No renewable developer made the top 10 companies AI recommended. Data: Spyglasses AI Data Center Study.

How was the study run?

We asked ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews 30 prompts every night for 30 days, September 15 to October 14, 2026. We ran them in 7 markets: Chicago, Ashburn, and Philadelphia (PJM), Dallas and Odessa (ERCOT), Santa Clara (CAISO), and Cheyenne (WECC). Data: Spyglasses AI Data Center Study. We did not track a MISO or Southeast market.

Do I have to book a call to get the study?

No. Fill in the form and the study is yours, whether or not you book a call. If you want one, you can book a free 30-minute AI Search Clarity Call with our AI visibility team.