Data centres require a lot of energy to run. It’s why it’s so frustrating to hear AI’s major players attempt to play a game of misdirection by making claims along the lines of a single LLM prompt requiring but a fourteenth of a cup of tea. Worse still, as big tech continues to build out its AI infrastructure, data centres’ power demands are only set to increase.
Worldwide data centre electricity consumption is expected to rise from 447 terawatt-hours in 2025, to 565 terawatt-hours in 2026. That will mark a 26% year-over-year increase, according to Gartner’s latest forecast.
Data centres’ power demand globally is expected to rise 27% this year, peaking at a predicted total of 132 gigawatts. That’s up from 2025’s 104 GW total, with analysts expecting to see power demand continue to rise—according to Gartner, data centre demand may cross the 290 GW mark by 2030.
Gartner’s Director Analyst, Linglan Wang, explains, “Surging demand for compute-intensive AI workloads is driving unprecedented data center power growth, while AI capacity is now constrained by power availability, making data center power security the new battle ground for scaling and protecting margins in the global AI race.”