Can demand side restrictions explain the productivity paradox (Solow paradox)?
Capital accumulation would still appear as investment GDP. Its possible theres other applications for this spending that would result in higher gdp. For example, GDP spiked in ww2 because military spending happens to be very efficient at inflating GDP.
So it is intuitively plausible that potential output is hidden by rising investment- the closest equivalent in economics is baumol cost disease, where the low productivity sectors gain more wages as growth progresses. However, the example you are asking about, in technology, is not that related to macroeconomic investment. The overall infrastructure level in energy production and distribution drives the output of everything- so there isnt much tradeoff there, consumption is made possible by shared infrastructure used for both consumption and investment.
Technology likewise is shared infrastructure- you could use a semiconductor plant for either consumer or business goods- so theres only a limited extent to which it would matter in practice. But there could indeed be Baumol like factors which cause resources to be allocated in a way that results in lower output. Baumol phenomena are almost the opposite of what you are describing but they are the closest thing in economics to the idea that growth may be &quot;hidden&quot; through factor reallocation.