Global electricity consumption by data centres is expected to reach 565 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2026, up 26.4% from 447TWh in 2025, according to Gartner.
The research firm said worldwide data centre power demand is projected to increase to 132 gigawatts (GW) in 2026 from 104GW in 2025. Demand is expected to reach 290GW by 2030.
“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 Linglan Wang, Director Analyst at Gartner.
Gartner said AI-optimised servers will account for 31% of data centre electricity consumption in 2026. Their power consumption is expected to exceed that of conventional servers in 2027.
According to the firm’s estimates, electricity consumption by AI-optimised servers will rise to 175TWh in 2026 from 95TWh in 2025. Consumption by conventional servers is forecast to increase to 195TWh in 2026 from 193TWh in 2025.
Power used for cooling and other infrastructure is expected to reach 195TWh in 2026, compared with 159TWh in 2025.
By 2027, electricity consumption by AI-optimised servers is projected to increase to 258TWh, exceeding the 200TWh expected for conventional servers. Total data centre electricity consumption is forecast to reach 702TWh in 2027.
Gartner estimates that electricity consumption by data centres will exceed 1,200TWh by 2030. The company said grid supply would not be sufficient to meet the power requirements of future data centre construction.
“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 (I&O) 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,” said Wang.