Nexans has warned that cable manufacturing capacity is becoming a constraint on AI data centre construction as demand for electrical distribution equipment grows faster than producers can add new lines. Vincent Piquet, chief financial officer of the French manufacturer, said establishing a new production line for cross-linked polyethylene insulated cable can take around three years.
The warning concerns the physical cables required to distribute power within large computing facilities and connect them with the wider electricity system. Piquet identified pressure on global manufacturing capacity, particularly for low- and medium-voltage cable, as developers accelerate projects while utilities and industrial customers pursue their own electrification programmes.
A large data centre requires more than servers and cooling machinery. Incoming supply is transformed and distributed through electrical infrastructure that can include substations, switchgear, transformers and extensive cabling. Medium-voltage circuits can distribute substantial loads between major electrical installations, while low-voltage networks serve equipment farther downstream. The precise arrangement depends on site size, architecture and the voltage at which power is supplied.
Greater computing density can increase the electricity required by individual areas of a facility, although the amount of cable depends on the distribution design as well as the site’s total load. Cable must be selected for its intended voltage, current, installation conditions and thermal performance. Procurement therefore involves particular product specifications rather than an interchangeable commodity that can always be sourced from any available factory.
Cross-linked polyethylene, usually shortened to XLPE, is widely used as an insulating material in power cables. During manufacture, the conductor and surrounding insulation must meet dimensional, electrical and material requirements appropriate to the finished design. Continuous vulcanisation lines provide controlled conditions for applying and curing insulation in particular cable constructions.
A new line requires specialised machinery, factory space, utilities, materials handling and testing equipment. Installation is followed by commissioning and product qualification before commercial output is available. Piquet’s approximately three-year estimate covers the difficulty of establishing new capacity; it is not a claim that every existing cable order has a three-year delivery period.
Manufacturers can respond to an increase in orders by improving utilisation, adjusting product mix or investing in additional equipment. The scope for each response depends on available assets, staff, material supply and existing delivery commitments. Extra shifts do not necessarily provide equivalent output where another operation in the production sequence becomes the bottleneck.
Cable demand is increasing alongside investment in data centres, grid reinforcement and other electricity infrastructure. Utilities upgrading distribution systems may require overlapping categories of materials and equipment, placing their requirements in competition with new industrial projects. At the same time, customers may want fixed delivery commitments before beginning construction work that depends on those products.
Piquet said French distribution network operator Enedis has moved towards supply contracts extending six or seven years rather than relying chiefly on annual purchasing agreements. Longer contracts can give suppliers greater visibility when considering manufacturing investment, while enabling network operators to secure an allocation of future production. They do not create immediate additional physical capacity.
Where order commitments fill available lines, a manufacturer must decide which products can be made and when. Nexans has indicated that current demand is allowing it to be more selective in allocating capacity. That does not establish that particular AI data centre developments have been refused cable or that any named customer’s installation has been cancelled.
Electrical infrastructure restrictions have already affected some US data centre programmes. Reuters reported that Oracle issued a force majeure notice in September to a Blue Owl unit developing a New Mexico facility, citing potential difficulty securing the required power. The notice concerns electricity availability and should not be represented as a confirmed Nexans cable shortage.
Europe faces a different combination of constraints. Piquet characterised electricity networks in some northern European markets as relatively strong, while suggesting that regulatory processes and the available scale of private investment could slow the expansion of AI facilities compared with the United States. Neither assessment means European sites are free of connection or manufacturing difficulties.
Nexans’ own October financial information provides context for the pressure it describes. Standard sales totalled €4,946.7 million over the first nine months of 2026, an increase of 10.1% as reported, including organic growth of 3.9%. Organic growth reached 9% in the third quarter. These figures cover the group rather than cables supplied exclusively to AI data centres.
Its electrification activities recorded 12.9% growth over the nine-month period, including acquisition effects. The company completed its purchase of US manufacturer Republic Wire in June, expanding its position in the North American electrical cable market. Nexans confirmed full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance of €770 million to €840 million and free cash flow guidance of €235 million to €325 million.
Financial growth does not directly reveal how many additional cable kilometres can be manufactured or which product types remain constrained. Expansion requires individual investment decisions, and capacity in one voltage or cable category cannot automatically be transferred to another. Manufacturing lead times also sit alongside those of transformers, switchgear and other components required before a facility can be energised.
Infrastructure programmes consequently need to integrate equipment procurement with engineering design and construction scheduling. A developer may secure a building site and a connection agreement yet still depend on several distinct manufactured components arriving in the required sequence. Nexans expects demand associated with AI infrastructure to remain strong, while the timing of new manufacturing capacity will determine how readily suppliers can accommodate it.
