Key Points

  • 89% of executives globally report experiencing energy-related disruptions in the past year, with 83% believing that power reliability will trigger the nextmajor supply chain crisis. This conclusion comes from a report released this week by Prologis, an industrial real estate company headquartered in San Francisco, California.
  • Driven by AI applications increasing electricity demand, approximately three-quarters of surveyed executives expect their facilities' power needs to grow by 10% to 50% over the next five years.
  • "The supply chain is undergoing its largest reconfiguration in a generation, and at its core it comes down to three points:energy reliability, AI, and site selection. The new priority is resilience—building networks that can adapt and endure." Hamid R. Moghadam, co-founder and CEO of Prologis, said in a statement in the company's press release.

In-Depth Insights

The survey shows that executives rank economic volatility (51%), tariff increases and trade policy changes (48%), geopolitical instability and cybersecurity threats (38% each), and energy reliability and costs (33%) as major risks for operational disruptions in 2026.

The report also highlights AI applications and the energy pressure they place on supply chains. Training AI models requires "thousands of graphics processing units (GPUs) running continuously for months, leading tohigh electricity consumption," as explained in an April report from Penn State University's Energy and Environment Institute. The report's author, Mahmut Kandemir, a professor of computer science and engineering at Penn State, noted that data centers consumed 4.4% of U.S. electricity in 2023, and this share could triple by 2028. In July, the U.S. Department of Energystatedthat if suppliers do not increase generation capacity during peak demand periods, power outages could increase 100-fold by 2030, and warned that AI demand from data centers is exacerbating this pressure.

Prologis's research also reveals companies' vulnerability regarding electricity. The report finds that only 27% of organizations possess what is called "advanced power resilience," and just over half of businesses are unprepared for prolonged outages.

"The disconnect between current capabilities and future needs constitutes a critical weakness threatening operational continuity," the study's authors wrote.

The report also notes that companies are rethinking the geographic layout of their supply chains. After decades of optimizing for labor costs, 77% of executives say they are building regional, self-sufficient supply chain networks. Energy reliability has surpassed tariffs and labor costs to become the primary factor in site selection.

Nearly 80% of business leaders say they would consider relocating operations after experiencing just 1 to 5 major outages per year, reflecting how critical energy security has become.

"Energy has become the new fault line in global supply chains," Susan Uthayakumar, chief energy and sustainability officer at Prologis, said in a statement in the report's press release. "Most companies experienced energy disruptions last year, and most expect a surge in power demand in the coming years. Companies that can address energy resilience will stay ahead."

The report is based on a survey conducted in August 2025 for Prologis, a global logistics real estate company, collecting feedback from 1,816 executives worldwide.