US data centers to consume up to 194GW of power by 2035 - report

US data centers could require 194GW of power by 2035, according to recent data published by BloombergNEF.

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The latest figures are an 83 percent jump from the firm's December forecast of 106GW. If this came to fruition, data centers would account for around 20 percent of the US’ total electricity consumption, compared to 5.9 percent at present.

Bloomberg said that the jump reflects the growing pipeline of AI facilities slated to be built over the next decade. This includes Microsoft’s massive 2GW planned facility in Pecos, Texas, and Meta’s up to 5GW data center in Richland Parish, Louisiana.

“Every coal plant, every gas plant, every solar farm in the US — one unit of energy out of five generated by them is going to data centers,” said Lloyd Arnold, an analyst at BNEF and one of the authors of the report. “So that’s the same energy that’s going to be going into powering electric vehicles, powering cities, etcetera.”