# AI Data-Centre Tenants Now Seek $5 Million or More a Day in Late Fees, The Information Reports

Times of AI Desk · 2026-10-26 · Infrastructure

[https://timesof.ai/2026/10/data-center-late-fees-5m-day-insurance](https://timesof.ai/2026/10/data-center-late-fees-5m-day-insurance)

> The Information reports that AI data-centre tenants are writing late-delivery fees of $5 million or more a day into leases and that the penalties have spawned new insurance. A tenant asked for $1 million a day this spring, according to the same report as relayed by BeInCrypto. SB Energy's IPO filing shows how one such clause works: OpenAI's affiliate gets escalating rent credits if the Ohio campus is delivered late.

The cost of a late data centre is moving onto the builders: tenants racing for AI capacity are pricing each day of delay into their leases, according to The Information. The Information reported on **Sunday, October 25** that tenants now demand $5 million or more a day in late-delivery fees, up from $1 million this spring, and that brokers such as Marsh have started offering "delay-in-delivery" coverage.

## What has been reported

BeInCrypto, in an analysis syndicated on Yahoo Finance, says AI companies "now demand $5 million or more for every day a data center opens late." It says that this spring one tenant asked for $1 million a day, citing The Information.

## What one filing shows

SB Energy's amended IPO filing, dated September 21, says an OpenAI affiliate signed 17 leases on August 17 for its planned PORTS-Pike campus in Pike County, Ohio, designed for about 8.0 gigawatts of IT capacity. If SB Energy misses the target ready-for-service dates, the tenant gets a credit of one day's base rent per day of delay for the first 90 days and two days' rent per day after that, which the filing classifies as liquidated damages. The filing says the tenant cannot end those leases for missed construction milestones, and that the deadlines extend day for day for tenant delays, force majeure and utility delays.

## Limits

- The $5 million and $1 million figures and the insurance angle come from The Information's single, paywalled report; we read only its headline and opening line as listed on Techmeme, and BeInCrypto's summary.
- We have not identified which tenants or developers The Information is describing.
- We checked the SB Energy lease terms in the filing itself rather than through the Wall Street Journal's account relayed by BeInCrypto; the filing gives about 8.0 gigawatts for the campus, not the 10 gigawatts BeInCrypto cites.

## Sources

- [The Information (Ann Davis Vaughan): data-centre late-delivery fees and new insurance (October 25, 2026; paywalled)](https://www.theinformation.com/articles/data-center-late-fees-hit-5-million-per-day-spawning-new-insurance)
- [BeInCrypto via Yahoo Finance: AI Just Put a $5 Million-a-Day Price Tag on Its Biggest Bottleneck (October 25, 2026)](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/ai-just-put-5-million-200000810.html)
- [SB Energy, Inc.: Form S-1/A, Amendment No. 2 (SEC filing, September 21, 2026)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2133037/000162828026062846/sbenergy-sx1a2.htm)