Manya Rathore
Research expert covering India
Data center power consumption - statistics & facts
Global electricity consumption from data centers has already started to account for a non-negligible share of total electricity use worldwide. Projections indicate this share could roughly double by 2030, with the pace of expansion well beyond what was anticipated only a few years ago. Contributing to this is the growing number of large-scale hyperscale facilities, with the total count worldwide now well past a thousand — and global supply capacity on track to increase by around 60 percent by the end of 2027.
Power-hungry AI and the cooling challenge
AI-related processing has become a rapidly expanding source of electricity demand within the data center sector, already accounting for roughly a quarter of total consumption as of early 2026. Forecasts to 2030 suggest that AI workloads could grow several times over from current levels, eventually representing over two-thirds of all data center capacity demand worldwide. This has reshaped infrastructure requirements considerably, with a majority of operators having adopted free cooling and nearly half using AI-driven systems, while around four in ten plan to deploy advanced liquid cooling techniques within the next two years.
Rising carbon footprint and the scramble for clean power
All that energy comes with a growing environmental cost. Demand growth is far from evenly spread: Certain regions, particularly in the United States and Japan, are forecast to account for a disproportionately large share of electricity demand growth from data centers through 2030. Northern Virginia remains the world's largest data center market by existing inventory and continues to attract heavy investment, though pressure on local infrastructure has begun to prompt regulatory scrutiny.
Where that electricity comes from fossil fuels, data center expansion directly increases greenhouse gas emissions; major hyperscalers have reported sharp year-over-year GHG increases tied to the buildout of AI infrastructure. In response, reliable power has emerged as the top priority in site selection, and half of global executives now cite access to decarbonized energy as a key factor when choosing where to build. These dynamics suggest the geography of data center expansion could shift meaningfully as operators weigh power security and carbon commitments against rising costs in established hubs.
