alt Hacker NewsI don't understand: is it illegal to buy transformers from China? It looks like they are building them like crazy, and are available for sale:
E.g., https://lindahongli.en.made-in-china.com/product/SAapQolWVUY...
That's in the ballpark of the Heathrow transformer that blew, I think.
I understand they will be not cheap, with tariffs and all, but nothing the Magnificent 7 or Heathrow could not afford.
It seems to me that (as the article points out) that production facilities are pretty old and production COULD be much more automated, and products improved if there was a will.
However, "Now those firms are seeing a rise in demand for transformers alongside the buildout of data centers for AI, but remain unsure if the trend will continue, says Gonzalez Isla. “Transformer companies aren’t going to open new plants only to shut it down after 10 years of business,” she says."
And THAT seems to be the crucial difference here between the transformer industry and, say, NVIDIA.
Standards/regulations that the transformers almost certainly don't meet, produced in factories that don't follow any standards or regulations, and then add in the cost and delay in shipping something like that.