The global race for artificial intelligence is running into an unexpected bottleneck: electricity. As AI data centers drive a surge in demand for energy storage systems, the US is confronting an uncomfortable reality. Powering its AI ambitions increasingly depends on lithium iron phosphate, or LFP, batteries — a technology overwhelmingly dominated by China. Despite Washington's efforts to reduce reliance on Chinese supply chains, Beijing retains a commanding lead in LFP batteries, which have bec