Global data center electricity consumption is expected to rise by 26% in 2026, forecast Gartner Inc, a research advisory firm.It was estimated that the worldwide data center electricity consumption would reach 565 TWh in 2026, which was a rise from 447 TWh in 2025. Gartner further projected that global data center power demands would increase by 27% year-over-year, reaching 132 GW in 2026 and nearly doubling to 290 GW by 2030.AI-optimised servers are expected to be the primary driver of increased power consumption. Gartner forecasts that these servers would be accountable for 31% of total data center electricity consumption in 2026. Their electricity use was projected to rise from 95 TWh in 2025 to 175 TWh in 2026, which would surpass the power consumption of conventional servers by 2027.Linglan Wang, a director analyst at Gartner, said the rapid growth of compute-intensive AI applications was placing unprecedented pressure on data center infrastructure. She noted that power availability has become a key constraint in expanding AI capacity, making energy security a critical factor in the global race to scale AI operations.Furthermore, Gartner estimated that the data center’s electricity consumption could increase and exceed 1,200 TWh by 2030, potentially outpacing available grid supply and affecting future data center development.To address these issues, Gartner recommends that infrastructure and operations leaders prioritise efficiency upgrades and secure access to power grids, invest in advanced cooling technologies, and adopt edge computing strategies in order to support sustainable growth. Published - June 10, 2026 09:58 pm IST