US data centers expected to use 4x more electricity by 2035

Data centers expected to use 4x more electricity by 2035

A new BloombergNEF report forecasts US data centers will consume one-fifth of the nation's electricity by 2035, four times today's share. AI training and inference will account for nearly half of that load, with the US hosting 64% of AI chip power demand. The 2035 estimate is 83% higher than BloombergNEF's own forecast from December; EPRI and S&P have also raised their numbers sharply. The two most strained grids are PJM (Virginia to Illinois) at 34% and ERCOT (Texas) at 22% of generation going to data centers.

Why it matters: BloombergNEF sharply revised its data-center electricity forecast upward, with AI training and inference taking nearly half. The numbers are specific and the 83% jump from their own December estimate makes it concrete. Held back from a higher score because it's a report recap ...