{"slug": "temasek-eyes-ai-breakthroughs-to-slash-energy-demands", "title": "Temasek eyes AI breakthroughs to slash energy demands", "summary": "Advances in artificial intelligence could dramatically reduce the energy demands of data centers, according to Temasek. Russell Tham, head of emerging technologies at Temasek Global Investments, said at the Bloomberg Sustainable Business Summit in Singapore on Tuesday that more efficient AI architecture, materials discovery, and chipmaking could lower the sector's energy impact. Temasek earlier said it is unlikely to meet its 2030 climate targets partly due to AI's rising energy demand.", "body_md": "# Temasek eyes AI breakthroughs to slash energy demands\n\nGrid constraints, ballooning electricity prices prompting data centre operators to explore new ways to power their facilities\n\nADVANCES in artificial intelligence could dramatically alter the energy demands from a sector that is pressuring global electricity grids, according to Singapore investment company Temasek.\n\nAdoption of more efficient AI architecture, along with improved innovation in materials discovery and better chipmaking have potential to deliver an industry with a much lower impact, said Russell Tham, head of emerging technologies at Temasek Global Investments.\n\n“You may see the energy equation for generating AI tokens change quite drastically,” Tham said at the Bloomberg Sustainable Business Summit in Singapore on Tuesday (Jul 21). The existing generation of AI “as amazing as it is, as rapid as the progress is, is fundamentally an ineffective AI architecture,” he said.\n\nTemasek said earlier in 2026 that it was [unlikely to meet its goal](https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/esg/temasek-unlikely-meet-2030-climate-targets-says-ceo-dilhan-pillay) of halving the carbon emissions attributed to its portfolio from 2010 levels by 2030, partly due to AI’s rising demand for energy.\n\nGrid constraints and ballooning electricity prices are prompting data centre operators to explore new ways to power their facilities. At current pace, data centres in the US will account for about 20 per cent of the country’s electricity consumption in 2035, up from 5.9 per cent today, according to BloombergNEF.\n\nFirms like UK-based CuspAI, backed by investors including Temasek and Bezos Expeditions, are seeking to improve production of semiconductors, potentially by reducing or eliminate the use of some rare metals.\n\n“We’ve invested in very novel material and chip architecture that is vastly more energy efficient,” Tham said. “We’ve invested in new AI model architectures – yet to be proven – that are vastly more energy efficient.” BLOOMBERG\n\nDecoding Asia newsletter: your guide to navigating Asia in a new global order. Sign up here to get Decoding Asia newsletter. Delivered to your inbox. Free.\n\nShare with us your feedback on BT's products and services\n\n[TRENDING NOW](/pulse?ref=trending-now)\n\nNg Khee Siong, managing director of Borneo Motors parent Inchcape Singapore, resigns\n\nGold has fallen over 20% since 2026’s peak but is it a ‘buy’? Here are the latest target prices\n\nHow I knew I was ready to retire at 50\n\nSingapore bets on AI in healthcare, but success will depend on commercial sustainability", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/temasek-eyes-ai-breakthroughs-to-slash-energy-demands", "canonical_source": "https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/esg/temasek-eyes-ai-breakthroughs-slash-energy-demands", "published_at": "2026-07-22 05:29:15+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-22 05:52:59.606618+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-infrastructure", "ai-chips", "ai-research"], "entities": ["Temasek", "Russell Tham", "Temasek Global Investments", "Bloomberg Sustainable Business Summit", "BloombergNEF", "CuspAI", "Bezos Expeditions"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/temasek-eyes-ai-breakthroughs-to-slash-energy-demands", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/temasek-eyes-ai-breakthroughs-to-slash-energy-demands.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/temasek-eyes-ai-breakthroughs-to-slash-energy-demands.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/temasek-eyes-ai-breakthroughs-to-slash-energy-demands.jsonld"}}