US data center power demand is forecast to climb from 31 gigawatts in 2025 to 41 gigawatts in 2026 and 66 gigawatts in 2027, according to Goldman Sachs Commodities Research. The projection rests on an estimate that domestic data center capacity will reach roughly 95 gigawatts by the end of 2027, more than double the level at the close of 2025, paired with an assumed 70% capacity utilization rate.

Year over year capacity additions are scheduled to reach 13.6 gigawatts in 2026 and 36.3 gigawatts in 2027. Goldman analysts Hongcen Wei, Daan Struyven, and Samantha Dart cautioned that only about 50% to 60% of capacity scheduled for the next one to two years is expected to come online on time, given construction delays and project cancellations.

The share of total US peak summer power demand attributable to data centers is projected to rise from 4.1% in 2025 to 8.5% in 2027. That shift tightens the national power market during the hours when reserve margins are thinnest.

Regional effects diverge sharply. The Mid-Atlantic, Mid-Continent, and Northwest markets face elevated reliability risk under the forecast. Texas and Georgia are expected to see comparatively marginal impact because both states have generation additions already planned that align with the load growth. The report frames the buildout as driven primarily by demand for artificial intelligence computing rather than by traditional cloud or enterprise workloads.

Source: Goldman Sachs - https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/articles/us-data-center-power-demand-projected-to-double-by-2027