Here’s a number that should keep energy planners up at night: global electricity demand is projected to jump at least 40% over the next decade, and AI is one of the primary reasons why.
That’s the assessment from KKR, one of the world’s largest alternative asset managers, where Global Head of Real Assets Raj Agrawal has been sounding the alarm on what might be the most underappreciated bottleneck in the AI revolution. Not chips. Not talent. Electricity.
The gap between AI ambition and available power
KKR’s 2025 Infrastructure Outlook laid out the problem in stark terms: AI is driving a critical need for investment in both electricity generation and transmission. The firm’s follow-up 2026 Infrastructure Outlook went further, putting that 40% demand increase figure on the table as a baseline projection tied to AI, digitization, and related technologies.
The surge in data center construction is already outpacing the current power supply.
