Global data center electricity consumption is projected to climb 26 percent in 2026, reaching 565 terawatt-hours, up from 447 terawatt-hours in 2025, according to a June 2026 forecast from research firm Gartner. Worldwide data center power demand is expected to rise 27 percent this year to 132 gigawatts, up from 104 gigawatts in 2025, and Gartner projects that figure will reach 290 gigawatts by 2030 as generative AI workloads continue to expand computing needs.
AI-optimized servers are driving much of the increase. Gartner estimates these systems will account for 31 percent of total data center power consumption in 2026, with electricity use for AI-optimized servers projected to rise 84 percent year over year, compared with roughly 1 percent growth for conventional servers. The firm expects AI-optimized server power consumption to overtake that of conventional servers by 2027.
A Gartner analyst said data center power security has become a central constraint on scaling AI capacity, with power availability now standing in as the primary limiting factor for infrastructure and operations leaders rather than compute capacity itself. Gartner projects total data center electricity consumption could exceed 1,200 terawatt-hours by 2030, a level the firm says existing grid supply will struggle to support.
The forecast recommends that operators prioritize efficiency upgrades, secure long-term grid access agreements, and invest in high-efficiency cooling and edge computing infrastructure to manage growing power constraints. The findings point to electricity availability, rather than land or capital, increasingly shaping where and how quickly new data center capacity can be built across the United States and globally.
Source: Gartner - https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2026-06-10-gartner-says-data-center-electricity-demand-to-grow-26-percent-in-2026