Power consumption worldwide for data centers is projected to grow to 565 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2026, up 26% from 447 TWh in 2025, with AI-oriented data centers taking up an increasing amount of the pie.
Worldwide data center power demand is expected to rise 27% in 2026 and reach 133 gigawatts (GW), up from 105GW in 2025. It is projected to reach 291GW by 2030, which reflects the unprecedented scale and pace of GenAI boosting demand.
Those figures consider variables like parts and supply shortages, delayed or cancelled data center projects, and the impact of the conflict with Iran, said Linglan Wang, director analyst and lead economist at Gartner.
AI-optimized servers are a relatively new phenomenon but they have rapidly gained uh traditional data centers in terms of power use. Gartner estimates AI-optimized server adoption will account for 31% of data center power consumption in 2026, and that by 2027 their power consumption will surpass that of conventional servers.
“Surging demand for compute-intensive AI workloads is driving unprecedented data center power growth, while AI capacity is now constrained by power availability, making data center power security the new battle ground for scaling and protecting margins in the global AI race,” said Wang in a statement.
Wang said of the 565TWh consumed this year, the U.S. will account for about 204TWh, or 36% of the total amount consumed. And of the 204TWh consumed this year, dedicated AI data centers will consume 68TWh, or one-third of the total. So in just five years, AI data centers have gone from zero to of the total power consumption in the US.
Non-AI data center growth has been minimal by comparison.
The difference in growth of power consumption between conventional servers and AI-optimized servers is remarkable. Worldwide, conventional servers consumed 193 terawatt hours (TWh) of power in 2025 and are projected to rise 1.2% to 195 TWh in 2026 and another 2.4% in 2027 to 200 TWh This 3% basic growth will continue to 2030.
Now compare that to the AI-optimized servers. They consumed 95 TWh of power in 2025, rose 84.2% to 175 TWh in 2026 and another 47.8% to 258 TWh in 2027. By 2030, Wang estimates AI-optimized servers will account for near half of all power consumed by data centers worldwide.
With data center power electricity consumption estimated to reach over 1,200TWh by 2030, grid supply will be insufficient to meet the demands of future data center construction, affecting all data center users.
“Infrastructure and operations leaders must prioritize efficiency upgrades and secure grid access. They also need to invest in high-efficiency cooling systems and edge computing to mitigate power constraints and ensure sustainable, scalable growth,” Wang said.