Update (9:00pm): just a few minutes after the initial post, the squeeze is accelerating and SPCX hit just shy of $230, or $3 trillion in market cap, surpassing MSFT in value.

And what is even crazier, tomorrow SPCX options start trading, which means one good, solid gamma squeeze could send this stock to $400, surpassing NVDA as the world’s biggest company in the process.

Earlier:

After a relatively calm first day of trading, the gamma squeeze crew has finally sniffed out that SpaceX’s float makes it a perfect candidate for an OTM-call option driven meltup, and the stock soared ~20% today, adding over $400 billion in market in the regular session.

Commenting on the move, Vanda Track earlier noted that SpaceX topped the leaderboard as the most bought stock by retail investors for a second consecutive session, with net buying potentially set to clear $100mn for the second day in a row.

On a net basis, retail investors have now bought almost as much SPCX over the last two sessions as they bought across the entire US stock market last week. In fact, today’s $93.8mn of net buying in SpaceX accounts for roughly 73% of all retail net buying across single stocks so far today.

 
The one notable development today according to Vanda, is that we’re seeing some appetite return to semiconductor stocks. Names such as MRVL, MU, SNDK and AVGO have all seen some modest buying today amid the rebound. However, retail flows remain selective rather than broad-based, with leveraged bearish ETFs such as SQQQ and SOXS also among today’s most bought securities by retail investors.

Vanda’s conclusion is that “the broader message remains unchanged: SpaceX has not sparked a retail buying frenzy across the market. Instead, retail investors continue to direct capital into this one name, while maintaining a relatively cautious stance elsewhere.”

And since momentum elsewhere is fading, retail has decided to double down on the very illiquid SPCX after hours, where its low float has made it a great squeeze candidate by the retail crew, and the stock is now exploding higher, and at last check was trading just over $210, meaning the stock has added $250 billion in market cap after the close – or a total of $650 billion today alone…

…  which translates into a market cap of $2.75 trillion or more than Apple’s $2.65 trillion, and just behind MSFT’s $2.97 trillion

Where you live in the U.S. can make a huge difference in economic output per person.

GDP per capita varies widely across states, from under $60,000 in Mississippi to nearly $280,000 in Washington, D.C.

This chart, produced by Visual Capitalist’s Jenna Ross, in partnership with Terzo, breaks down GDP per capita in 2025. 

GDP per Capita by State

Washington, D.C. has the highest GDP per capita. The capital’s economy is concentrated in high-value professional services like consulting, IT, and legal, as well as government spending. 

Its large commuter workforce from outside states also boosts the figure, as many workers contribute to economic output without being counted in the local population.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Census Bureau. Figures rounded.

New York takes the second spot as a global financial hub with strong output in other high-value industries, including real estate and professional services. 

Massachusetts and Washington also top the ranks. While Massachusetts drives value through professional services like biotechnology, Washington is home to big tech companies like Amazon and Microsoft.

Resource Economies

Outside of more service-based economies, both North Dakota and Alaska pump out over $100,000 in GDP per capita. 

Both states are driven by natural resources and mining, ranking as the third (North Dakota) and fifth-highest (Alaska) producers of crude oil in America. These states also have some of the lowest populations in the country, driving up output per person.

More recently in 2026, both states have seen monetary benefits from oil transport disruptions and rising prices. North Dakota typically sells crude oil at a discount to benchmark pricing, but has been earning $7 more per barrel above the benchmark. In Alaska, the state recently increased its projected revenue by $0.5 billion as a result of higher oil prices.

Maximizing Value

As economies push to create more value per person, businesses are also focused on getting more from what they have.

Submitted by Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

India’s solar capacity is set to surge by 22% each year by 2035 as the data center boom will drive increased power consumption, a new report by Nuvama showed on Monday.   

The consultancy estimates that India’s total power demand will rise by 6% every year over the next decade, “driven by economic growth, rising urbanisation, manufacturing expansion and increasing electrification across sectors,” according to the report cited by Indian news outlet ANI.

Solar growth will vastly outpace overall power demand as power-intensive data centers will drive 22% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in solar energy capacity from 2026 to 2035, the report found.

“Our base case suggests green hydrogen and data centre capacity shall add another 251GW solar capacity, while it is 406GW capacity in the bull case scenario,” Nuvama analysts said in the report.

“Given solar capacity expansion in our base case, the share of solar shall rise from 28% in FY26 to 61% by FY35 and to 65% in the bull case,” they added.

India expects to nearly quadruple its solar power capacity and triple wind power-generating assets within ten years, according to the new Generation Adequacy Plan published by the country’s Central Electricity Authority earlier this year.

India projects to have a total of 509 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacity installed by the end of the 2035-2036 fiscal year, up from 140 GW installed solar PV capacity as of January 2026.   

“The installed generation capacity projection in 2035-36 shows that the country is moving toward a strong transition to non-fossil energy. Renewable sources, especially solar PV, hydro, and wind, will dominate future capacity, supported by Energy Storage Systems,” according to the policy.

In 2025, India boasted that it was five years ahead of schedule when it achieved its target of having 50% of its installed electricity capacity coming from non-fossil fuel sources.

However, India’s electricity grid is expanding at a slower pace than the boom in renewable energy installations, leading to an increased share of clean energy curtailments and threatening to slow the solar and wind boom in the world’s most populous country.   

The average person today can expect to live far longer than someone born in 1960, regardless of where they live.

This chart, via Visual Capitalist’s Bruno Venditti, tracks life expectancy at birth across four World Bank income groups. While high-income countries still have the longest lifespans, the biggest gains have come elsewhere. Upper-middle income countries have added more than three decades to life expectancy, while low-income countries have made substantial progress as well.

The data for this visualization comes from World Bank via FRED. It tracks life expectancy at birth by income group from 1960 to the latest available data (2024).

High-Income Countries Still Lead

High-income countries still have the highest life expectancy, reaching 80.3 years in 2024.

That is up from 68.3 years in 1960, a gain of 12 years. These countries started from a much higher baseline, meaning their gains have been slower but still substantial.

Examples include the U.S., Germany, and Japan.

Upper-Middle Income Countries Saw the Fastest Gains

Upper-middle income countries posted the largest increase, rising from 41.9 years in 1960 to 76.3 years.

That is a gain of 34.4 years, the fastest improvement of any group in the dataset. This category includes countries such as China, Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa.

Much of this improvement coincided with rising incomes, better sanitation, expanded vaccination programs, lower child mortality, and broader access to healthcare. Together, these changes helped push life expectancy in many middle-income countries toward levels once seen only in the world’s wealthiest economies.

The Global Life Expectancy Gap Has Narrowed

In 1960, people in high-income countries lived about 27 years longer than those in low-income countries.

Today, the gap stands at roughly 16 years. While a significant difference remains, low-income countries have added more than 23 years to average life expectancy since 1960. In other words, much of the world’s longevity progress has come from countries that started furthest behind.

However, the remaining gap shows that income, healthcare access, and living conditions continue to shape longevity worldwide.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Ranked: Countries With the Most Ultra-Rich Residents in 2026 on Voronoi.

More than three years after adopting test-optional admissions, Columbia University is reversing course and will once again require standardized test scores from prospective students.

Columbia announced on June 13 that, beginning in fall 2027, first-year and transfer applicants will have to submit either SAT or ACT scores to be considered for admission. The university will remain test-optional for the upcoming 2026–27 admissions cycle.

University officials said the decision follows a “multiyear faculty review” that found “test scores, among other factors, were a useful indicator of potential student success.”

“Standardized testing is one of many elements that can demonstrate a foundation of academic excellence; others include your performance in your secondary school coursework and the rigor of your curriculum,” the university stated on a webpage outlining its new policy.

As Bill Pan reports for The Epoch Times, Columbia was among the first elite universities to suspend testing requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic, when widespread school closures and testing disruptions limited students’ access to the SAT and ACT. In 2023, the university extended its test-optional policy indefinitely, becoming the first Ivy League institution to make the change permanent.

It was also the last of the eight Ivy League schools to maintain a test-optional admissions policy.

Princeton University reinstated standardized testing requirements in October 2025, leaving Columbia as the sole Ivy League holdout.

The debate over standardized testing has intensified in recent years as some of the nation’s most selective institutions have restored testing requirements. Like Columbia and Princeton, many of those schools have cited internal data showing that test scores are a strong predictor of academic performance and graduation outcomes.

When Princeton announced its decision, university officials said data collected during five years of test-optional admissions showed that “academic performance at Princeton was stronger for students who chose to submit test scores than for students who did not.”

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which reinstated its testing requirement in 2022, also said that considering SAT and ACT scores—particularly math scores—“significantly improves” its ability to predict whether applicants will succeed in the institute’s highly demanding mathematics and math-based science courses.

Critics of standardized testing, however, argue that emphasizing those scores may disadvantage students from low-income and historically underrepresented backgrounds who lack access to expensive tutoring, test-preparation courses, and other educational resources.

Columbia’s move also comes amid renewed interest in standardized testing from the Trump administration.

Administration officials have argued that test-optional admissions policies allow colleges to rely more heavily on subjective criteria, such as personal statements, potentially serving as illegal proxies for race in admissions decisions, a practice the U.S. Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional.

“The persistent lack of available data—paired with the rampant use of ‘diversity statements’ and other overt and hidden racial proxies—continues to raise concerns about whether race is actually used in admissions decisions in practice,” President Donald Trump wrote in an August 2025 memorandum to the secretary of education.

In a proposed compact offered to nine institutions in exchange for preferential access to certain federal funding opportunities, the Trump administration also demanded that they require standardized test scores as part of the admissions process.

The proposal further urged schools to publicly release anonymized admissions data, including applicants’ GPAs, standardized test scores, and other academic measures, broken down by race, national origin, and sex.

Despite the revival of testing requirements at some elite institutions, test-optional admissions remain widespread nationwide.

According to FairTest, an advocacy group opposing the use of standardized testing in college admissions, more than 90 percent of ranked four-year colleges and universities in the United States will not require applicants to submit SAT or ACT scores for fall 2026 admissions. The organization’s survey covered approximately 2,000 four-year institutions.

By West Garrett of Industrial Sage

Summary:

• Power transformer lead times now average 128 weeks — nearly 2.5 years — with generator step-up transformers averaging 144 weeks
• Prices for power transformers have risen 77% since 2019, driven by surging demand and constrained raw material supply
• Cleveland-Cliffs is the only domestic producer of grain-oriented electrical steel, the specialized material transformers require
• Demand for generator step-up transformers has grown 274% since 2019, outpacing any increase in manufacturing capacity
• For industrial developers, equipment availability has replaced capital and permitting as the primary constraint on project timelines
• Roughly 80% of large power transformers used in the U.S. are imported, exposing critical infrastructure to global supply chain pressures

Power transformer lead times have reached levels that are now dictating the pace of industrial expansion across the United States. According to Wood Mackenzie’s second quarter 2025 survey, standard power transformers average 128 weeks for delivery. Generator step-up transformers, which connect large power generation assets to the grid, average 144 weeks. Some orders extend to four years.

For plant operators, energy developers, and infrastructure planners, that math has a direct consequence: a facility that breaks ground today cannot energize its electrical systems on a standard timeline. Equipment availability has become the gating factor for industrial growth, replacing capital availability and permitting as the primary project constraint.

Power Transformer Lead Times: What the Numbers Actually Mean

128 weeks is nearly two and a half years of wait time before a transformer ships. That figure comes from actual utility and developer order data, not theoretical capacity projections. Generator step-up transformers, which are larger and more specialized, run even longer at 144 weeks. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation reported lead times crossing 120 weeks in 2024, and the trend has continued upward into 2025.

The cost pressure is equally significant. Power transformer prices have risen 77% since 2019, according to industry sourcing data. Distribution transformer prices have climbed 78% to 95% over the same period. The underlying material drivers are straightforward: grain-oriented electrical steel prices have roughly doubled since 2020, and copper prices have risen more than 50%. Both materials are core inputs in every transformer manufactured.

The demand surge is not temporary. Generator step-up transformer demand has grown 274% since 2019. Power transformer demand has grown 119% over the same period. AI data center construction, large-scale electrification of industrial processes, and grid modernization programs are all pulling from the same constrained supplier base simultaneously.

The Cleveland-Cliffs Bottleneck: One Domestic Supplier for Critical Steel

The transformer shortage is not simply a volume problem. It has a structural bottleneck at the material level. Transformer cores require grain-oriented electrical steel, a highly engineered material that gives the steel specific magnetic properties needed for efficient power transformation. In the United States, Cleveland-Cliffs is the only domestic producer of this material, operating plants in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

That concentration means that every U.S. transformer manufacturer drawing on domestic steel supply draws from a single source. When that source faces capacity constraints, pricing pressure, or supply disruptions, the effect ripples through the entire domestic transformer manufacturing base immediately. Roughly 80% of large power transformers used in the U.S. are imported, primarily from Mexico, South Korea, and other international manufacturers, creating additional exposure to global trade conditions.

The Biden administration awarded Cleveland-Cliffs $500 million to upgrade its electrical steel plants under the CHIPS and Infrastructure framework. Key elements of that grant have since been reviewed under the current administration, adding uncertainty to the domestic steel expansion timeline.

Who Is Driving the Demand Surge

Three distinct demand categories are converging on the same equipment market at the same time:

• AI data centers: Hyperscale data center construction requires massive electrical infrastructure. A single large AI training cluster can require hundreds of megawatts of power delivery, each requiring transformers at multiple points in the distribution chain.
• Industrial electrification: Manufacturing facilities converting from fossil-fuel-powered processes to electric systems require new transformer capacity at the facility level, compounding grid-level demand.
• Grid modernization: Aging transmission infrastructure across the U.S. requires transformer replacement at a scale that was already behind schedule before the AI and electrification waves arrived.

These three demand categories do not share a common peak cycle. They are all active simultaneously, and none shows signs of near-term deceleration.

What Industrial Leaders Should Do Now

The strategic implication for any organization with capital projects in the pipeline is straightforward: equipment procurement planning must now precede, not follow, project financial approval. Waiting until a project clears its budget and permitting phase to begin transformer sourcing can add two to four years to a project timeline before the first piece of steel is bent on site.

Long-term supply agreements with transformer manufacturers are becoming a competitive tool. Organizations that lock in delivery slots years in advance gain a scheduling advantage that cannot be bought at spot pricing once a project is ready to execute. Similarly, projects with flexibility on grid interconnect timing may benefit from engaging utilities earlier in the planning process to understand equipment delivery realities.

The domestic manufacturing response is underway: nearly $2 billion has been directed toward North American transformer production expansion, with new capacity from Hitachi Energy, Siemens Energy, and others projected to come online by 2028. However, that capacity does not solve the current shortage. Projects executing between now and 2028 face the current market as it exists today.

IndustrialSage tracks domestic infrastructure investment and supply chain constraints through the US Manufacturing Investment Tracker. For additional context on grid infrastructure and industrial power, visit the IndustrialSage news section. This story was covered on IndustrialSage Headlines Episode 23.

Frequently Asked Questions: U.S. Power Transformer Shortage

How long are power transformer lead times right now?

As of the second quarter of 2025, standard power transformers average 128 weeks for delivery. Generator step-up transformers average 144 weeks. Some specialized orders are extending to four years. These are verified order-based averages from Wood Mackenzie’s industry survey, not theoretical estimates.

Why are transformer lead times so long?

Demand has outpaced manufacturing capacity across all transformer categories simultaneously. Generator step-up transformer demand grew 274% since 2019. Power transformer demand grew 119%. Meanwhile, domestic manufacturing capacity has not scaled proportionally, and the sole U.S. producer of the required grain-oriented electrical steel faces its own capacity limits.

How much have transformer prices increased?

Power transformer prices have risen 77% since 2019. Distribution transformer prices have risen 78% to 95%. Generator step-up transformer prices have risen 45%. The increases reflect both raw material cost inflation and the pricing power that comes with constrained supply against surging demand.

Who makes grain-oriented electrical steel in the United States?

Cleveland-Cliffs is the only domestic producer of grain-oriented electrical steel, operating facilities in Pennsylvania and Ohio. This concentration creates a single point of supply constraint for all U.S. transformer manufacturers relying on domestic steel. Approximately 80% of large power transformers used in the U.S. are imported, reflecting the limited domestic manufacturing base.

What is driving the surge in transformer demand?

Three concurrent demand waves are driving the surge: AI data center construction requiring massive power delivery infrastructure, industrial electrification converting fossil-fuel processes to electric systems, and grid modernization replacing aging transmission infrastructure. These three categories do not share a common peak cycle, and all are active simultaneously.

What should industrial planners do about transformer lead times?

Equipment procurement planning must precede project financial approval. Waiting until a project clears budget and permitting to begin transformer sourcing can add two to four years to the execution timeline. Long-term supply agreements and early utility engagement on grid interconnect timing are the two most effective tools available in the current market.