A product team’s success in building good products is usually a function of velocity – iterating quickly in the right direction. While the right direction is a function of product strategy, the ability to iterate is often a function of the “tech stack” – i.e., the set of technologies used to power the product.
We’re seeing a lot of news about the world’s “power tech” stack of late – as every country and company races to keep up with the AI revolution. The best likely impact of the AI race is likely going to be the knock-on effects of cheap electricity. Cheap electricity can then power the production of all kinds of critical technology.
The country that’s gotten this memo is China. Ensuring there is cheap electric power enables dominance across key aspects of manufacturing – from batteries to drones to robots. And the benefits compound across many of these bets.
China has also been leading the way in building additional capacity for the past 2 decades. Again, you see the compounding impact in their curve.
And a big part of this recent compounding is driven by the fact that China installed more than twice as much solar capacity in the first half of 2025 as the rest of the world combined. That’s crazy scale.
Other countries are adopting too. Spain has invested heavily in wind and solar in the past 5 years. Now, Spain’s electricity costs are a whopping 30% lower and the difference is illustrated beautifully by the difference between its prices and that of the price of gas (which drives electricity prices elsewhere in Europe).
Pakistan offers another example. After struggling with energy issues for decades, they’ve gone all in on solar.
Here’s a way to put this all in perspective. This data is from 2024.
Pakistan has become the third-largest importer of Chinese solar modules, acquiring a staggering 13GW in the first half of this year alone. To give you some international comparisons, the UK is only on course to add 1.5-2GW of solar capacity this year. In 2023, the US economy added 32GW of solar capacity.
This likely means Pakistan will be the sixth-largest installer of solar panels this year. But in local terms, it is more significant. The country’s entire electrical generation capacity was only 46GW in 2023.
In other words, in just six months, Pakistan imported solar capacity equivalent to 30% of its total electricity generation capacity – an absolutely staggering amount.
As they continue to invest, they’re able to reduce their dependence on imported natural gas – so much so that their Petroleum minister recently said LNG demand has peaked.
The key here is that energy wealth translates to income.
All this to say that the race that’s redefining this decade is how quickly countries embrace cheap electricity. It is the core component of the power tech stack of this century.
