The electricity the world’s data centres swallow may roughly double by 2030, to a level so vast it rivals a whole industrial nation: they may draw about 945 terawatt-hours a year, close to all of Japan’s power use today

Global electricity use by data centres could climb to about 945 terawatt-hours a year by 2030, roughly double current levels. At that scale, their annual power demand would be close to the total electricity consumption of Japan today, highlighting how quickly digital infrastructure is expanding.

The increase is closely tied to the race to build more artificial intelligence capacity. AI systems require large amounts of computing power, and that means more energy for servers, specialised chips and the cooling systems needed to keep those facilities running.

That projected growth raises concerns well beyond the technology sector. Electricity grids in many places were built for a different era of demand, and a sharp rise in data centre consumption could put pressure on supply, reliability and long-term energy planning.

The comparison with a major industrial economy shows the scale of the challenge. If current trends continue, meeting the energy needs of AI-driven data centres may become one of the defining infrastructure and power questions of the decade.