Oracle has sent a force majeure notice to the investor behind Project Jupiter, the data centre campus in New Mexico that is one of Stargate's flagship sites. Force majeure is a clause familiar from energy and commodity contracts: it releases a party from its obligations when something outside its control gets in the way. Oracle isn't walking away from the deal and wants to remain the anchor tenant. But the notice gives it the right to delay payments if the campus isn't up and running by 2028, as planned.

The official version sounds serene. "Project Jupiter remains on its planned schedule," Oracle said. "We are fully committed to New Mexico and confident in the path forward." Blue Owl Capital, whose subsidiary received the notice, added that it "does not change the financial commitments to this multi-year project". If everything is so certain, why send a legal letter about events beyond anyone's control in the first place?

The answer is gas. The campus is designed for 2.45 gigawatts and is supposed to run on gas-fired Bloom Energy fuel cells. No reliable gas supply, no data centre. The Energy Transfer pipeline meant to bring the gas is running almost six months late, to 1 February 2027, after regulators repeatedly refused to grant it permits. In August its route was changed. A separate air quality permit for the fuel cell system is still pending, and the state environment department has until 23 November to decide.

This is the side of artificial intelligence that rarely makes it into the slide decks. The models are sold as something floating in the cloud, but on the ground they need pipes, permits and neighbours who'll agree. The campus has opponents among local residents and environmental groups, and ahead of the US midterms it has become a political issue. Oracle responded with a public campaign in the state to win over critics.

Stargate was announced as a project of national importance: Oracle, OpenAI and SoftBank unveiled it together with Donald Trump at the start of his second term. Now one of its flagship campuses is waiting on a pipeline, a stamp from a state department and a decision about the air. The Balkans know this scene by heart - the grand announcement, then the quiet jam in the permits. The only surprise is that we're watching it in the country selling the idea that artificial intelligence has no limits.