FTC Probe, $200B Korea Deal and a Data Center Secrecy Problem

The FTC plans to issue formal demands for information and compel testimony from executives at the companies, including the research group Metr, according to The Guardian. Anthropic, OpenAI and Metr did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The New York Post first reported the news.

Andrew Ferguson, the FTC chair, had concerns before OpenAI agents hacked the open-source platform Hugging Face, the report says. Last week he suggested that developers who instruct agents in cybersecurity tests that end in hacks should be liable for any harm they cause. Donald Trump met top AI executives on Tuesday, and the companies agreed to establish voluntary standards.

That investigation matters for the grid because the same companies are building the data centers now straining electricity networks. On 30 September, NL Times reported that the vast majority of European data centers keep their environmental impact secret.

Researchers at Lighthouse Report, working with Trouw and other European media, spent a year invoking freedom of information laws and got no results. In the Netherlands, fewer than a quarter of larger data centers publish electricity and drinking water usage data. The European Energy Efficiency Directive obliges sites with at least 500 kW of installed capacity to report, and has been in effect for three years.

According to the Dutch Datacenter Association, there were 186 commercial data centers with a capacity of 500 kW or more in the Netherlands at the end of last year. The Netherlands Enterprise Agency has data on only 104 of them.

Public figures exist for the electricity use of 44 centers and the water use of 47, NL Times reported. Statistics Netherlands puts data center electricity consumption at 5.1 billion kWh in 2024, or 4.6 percent of national consumption, nearly double the level five years earlier. Grid operator TenneT projects 10 to 15 percent by 2030, while grid capacity shortages leave businesses and housing developments waiting.

Money moves, measurement does not

On the same day, Bloomberg reported that Trump was expected to unveil roughly $200 billion in South Korean investments in the United States, including about $54 billion tied to the long-delayed Alaska LNG project, as carried by Seeking Alpha. Shipbuilding, LNG, power plants and nuclear energy are targeted for substantial funding.

That scale sits awkwardly next to the disclosure problem. If governments are underwriting energy infrastructure for AI and industry, the data on what existing facilities consume is still missing in Europe's most connected market.

Supply pressure is not easing. An OilPrice.com analysis published on 24 September said the IEA now projects 33 percent global electrification by 2035, up from 23 percent today, driven largely by the energy price crisis linked to the Strait of Hormuz. COP31 negotiators in Antalya, running 9 to 20 November 2026, will push a formal 35 by 35 pledge tied to the Paris Agreement's 1.5C pathway. Faster electrification could save more than $400 billion in fossil fuel imports by 2035, per IEA estimates.

A guest piece published by CIO Influence on 1 October cites the IEA's projection that global electricity demand will grow 50 percent faster over the next five years than in the previous decade. It points to Egypt, where an intelligent grid programme spans multiple regional distribution zones and around 14,000 surveyed sites. Average outage recovery times there have fallen, the piece reports.

Not every market is moving in the same direction. CleanTechnica reported on 30 September that US battery-electric share was 5.9 percent in the first half of 2026, against 45 percent in China in August and 26 percent in Europe in July. The piece argued that US protectionism and policy changes are blocking competitive Chinese models.

Toyota, meanwhile, is still selling the old-fashioned kind of toughness. Electrek reported on 30 September that Toyota dropped a 1,675 lb caravan 30 feet onto its electric Hilux BEV at Bentwaters airfield in Suffolk. The truck drove off. The UK base Icon model is available to order from 42,170 pounds before VAT, with a 59.2 kWh battery and a WLTP range of up to 160 miles.

The through-line across these stories is not enthusiasm for electrification. It is who pays, who measures, and who is accountable when the numbers do not add up.