Sometimes you have to go hunting for numbers, sometimes El Reg gives them to you.
From The Register, November 13:
Datacenter demand estimated to inflate by 160% over next two years
AI-driven datacenter energy demand could expand 160 percent over the next two years, leaving 40 percent of existing facilities operationally constrained by power availability from 2027.
This is according to Gartner, which estimates the energy required for bit barns to run additional AI-optimized servers is forecast to hit 500 terawatt-hours (TWh) per year in 2027, which it says is 2.6 times the level seen in 2023.
"The explosive growth of new hyperscale datacenters to implement GenAI is creating an insatiable demand for power that will exceed the ability of utility providers to expand their capacity fast enough," claimed Gartner VP Analyst Bob Johnson.
"In turn, this threatens to disrupt energy availability and lead to shortages, which will limit the growth of new datacenters for GenAI and other uses from 2026," he said.
Gartner is just the latest industry watcher to warn about the impact on energy supplies caused by massive additional investment in high-performance compute triggered by the Gen AI craze over the past 18 months or so.
In June, Omdia reported that capital expenditure on datacenters is likely to be up nearly 30 percent in 2024 alone, with AI on track to become the top server workload within a few years....
....MUCH MORE
