Gartner: Data centre electricity demand to grow 27% in 2026

Gartner has predicted worldwide data centre power demand will rise 27% this year and reach 132 gigawatts (GW), up from 104GW in 2025.

Power demand is estimated to attain 290GW by 2030, reflecting what Gartner said is the "unprecedented scale and pace of GenAI boosting demand".

Electricity consumption for data centres worldwide is also projected to grow 26% in 2026 to reach 565 terawatt hours (TWh), up from 447TWh in 2025.

AI-optimised servers continue to fuel this increase, with Gartner estimating AI-optimised server adoption will account for 31% of data centre power consumption in 2026; by 2027, this power consumption will surpass that of conventional servers.

Data Centre Electricity Consumption by Segment, Worldwide, 2025-2027 (Electricity Consumption – TWh)

_{The numbers may not add up to totals shown due to rounding. Source: Gartner (June 2026)}

“Surging demand for compute-intensive AI workloads is driving unprecedented data centre power growth, while AI capacity is now constrained by power availability, making data centre power security the new battle ground for scaling and protecting margins in the global AI race,” said Linglan Wang, director analyst at Gartner.

“Infrastructure and operations leaders must prioritise 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.”