Data centers are not new. For decades, they have served as the infrastructure behind the internet. What is new is the role data centers play as the “factories” for rapidly advancing artificial intelligence (AI). As AI continues to develop, the deployment of energy-intensive computing increases, in turn raising the power demand of the data centers that house it. By way of example, the AI boom has driven the development of hyperscale data centers, which are essentially massive data centers housing the computing power behind large-scale workloads. In 2024, about 1.5% of global electricity consumption was attributable to data centers. In the United States, data centers consumed about 183 terawatt-hours (TWh), or about 4% of the country’s electricity. By 2028, data center electricity consumption in the United States is projected to increase drastically, with estimates ranging from 325 TWh to 580 TWh, or up to 12% of the country’s electricity.
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