What question did this study set out to answer?

The aim is to highlight the projected increase in energy consumption by data centers driven by AI expansion.

June 18, 2026Open Access

The Discovery That Could Cut AI Data Center Energy Consumption in Half

Key Points

The aim is to highlight the projected increase in energy consumption by data centers driven by AI expansion.
Analysis of projected electricity consumption for global data centers from 2025 to 2030.
Forecasting energy usage for AI-optimized servers and cooling systems.
Global data center electricity consumption is projected to reach 565 TWh in 2026, a 26% increase from 2025.
AI-optimized servers will consume 175 TWh in 2026, representing an 84% growth year-over-year.
Cooling infrastructure alone is expected to consume 195 TWh, a 22.6% increase.

Abstract

Data centers are growing faster than the energy infrastructure that sustains them. In2026, global data center electricity consumption is projected to reach 565 TWh, a26% increase from 2025.The culprit is AI. AI-optimized servers will consume 175 TWh in 2026, an 84% growthfrom the previous year. Cooling infrastructure alone will consume 195 TWh, a 22.6%increase.The worst is yet to come. By 2027, total data center consumption is expected toreach 702 TWh, with projections for 2030 exceeding 1,200 TWh. Energy availability isalready the primary bottleneck for AI capacity expansion.

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