Market research and analysis companies are increasing their projections for energy consumption in data centers around the world as the rise of AI infrastructure continues to accelerate. In the USA, the BloombergNEF updated its forecasts, and now expects these centers to consume up to 20% of the total energy produced in the country by the year 2035.
This means that one unit of energy in every five produced in all US plants, from coal to photovoltaic cells, will go to data centers in less than 10 years. BNEF’s projections are made based on current plans to build new facilities throughout the country.
The updated projection estimates that US data centers will need 194GW to operate by 2035. That’s an 83% increase over what the company expected in its report last December. The escalation has been so accelerated that the forecast has increased 2.5 times in the last 15 months.
The report indicates that almost half of data center energy consumption will be allocated specifically to AI training and inference. BNEF expects that by 2033 the United States will be home to 64% of the world’s AI chips.
Energy supply may not keep up with data center expansion
The ability to direct power to data centers in the United States may not keep pace with expansion, if the report’s projections are correct. Estimates indicate that the maximum ever achieved in one year for servers was 7.1GW.
If it were possible to maintain this rate for the next few years, we would still reach 2035 with 19GW missing to feed the growing needs of data centers and AI processing.
It is worth highlighting, however, that these are all estimates and projections that are based on initiated projects and official plans, without taking into account external factors that may interfere. The increase in data centers in the US has faced popular resistance, especially when they affect residential areas.
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It must also be taken into account that such a long period of time may include a change of leadership in the government, which raises the possibility that the next administration will not be as close a partner with big tech.
Via: Tom’s Hardware
Source: www.adrenaline.com.br
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