Artificial intelligence data centers are on the verge of reaching their limits.To meet ballooning demand, chipmakers like Nvidia Corp. are churning out ever more powerful chips, requiring a new generation of data centers that will draw many times more power than their predecessors.Rampant power consumption, fueled by “AI factories” that gobble up enough power to keep the lights on in millions of homes, threatens to put more pressure on electricity prices in the U.S., expand AI’s carbon footprint — and potentially slow down the AI boom.Political backlash against data centers is already creating friction, and industry leaders warn of another...