Gartner forecasts global data center electricity demand to grow 26% in 2026, driven by AI workloads, with AI-optimized servers surpassing conventional server power consumption by 2027

Gartner predicts that worldwide data center electricity consumption will increase by 26% in 2026, reaching 565 terawatt hours (TWh), up from 447 TWh in 2025. This surge is primarily attributed to the unprecedented demand from compute-intensive AI workloads. The report estimates that AI-optimized servers will account for 31% of data center power consumption in 2026 and are projected to surpass the power consumption of conventional servers by 2027, highlighting power availability as a critical constraint in the global AI race.