US data centers on track to use up 20% of the entire country's power by 2035

Q: How does the BNEF forecast quantify US data center electricity use by 2035 compared to today?

BNEF forecasts U.S. data center electricity use will rise from about 5.9% today to 20% of the nation’s electricity by 2035, an increase to almost triple current share. In raw power terms that 20% equates to around 194 gigawatts.

Q: What total power in gigawatts does the article say 20% of US electricity represents in 2035?

The article says 20% of US electricity in 2035 equates to around 194 gigawatts. This figure comes from the BNEF forecast cited in the article.

Q: How do other organizations’ forecasts (like EPRI and Gartner) compare with BNEF’s predictions mentioned in the article?

BNEF predicts a sharp rise to 20% of U.S. electricity use by 2035 (about 194 GW), an 83% increase versus its prior forecast and 64% of global AI chip power demand by 2033. Other organizations show similar upward revisions: the non-profit EPRI has recently doubled its own predictions for electricity demand from AI and data centers, and Gartner is forecasting a 26% growth in global data center energy use in 2026, indicating broadly aligned expectations of rapidly rising power demand for data centers.

Q: By what percentage is global data center energy use forecast to grow in 2026 according to Gartner, as cited in the article?

Gartner is forecasting that global data center energy use will grow by 26% in 2026, as cited in the article.

Modern data centers with racks of high-performance CPUs, GPUs, and memory built for AI consume a lot of power. And it's a lot more than previously thought.

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Kosta Andreadis

Senior Editor

Published Jul 27, 2026 12:02 AM CDT

1 minute & 30 seconds read time

TL;DR: BloombergNEF forecasts U.S. data center electricity use could rise from about 5.9% today to roughly 20% by 2035 (~194 GW), driven by growing AI-focused, power‑hungry racks and many new facilities, potentially leaving a near 20 GW shortfall despite rapid grid expansion.

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Modern data centers with racks of high-performance CPUs, GPUs, and memory built for AI consume a lot of power. For those keeping up with the advancements in processors and graphics hardware like NVIDIA's new Vera Rubin and AMD's EPYC 'Venice' and Instinct architectures, you'll know that rack-scale solutions are becoming more power-hungry with each new release.

US data centers on track to use up 20% of the entire country's power by 2035 1

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And with more new and expanded data centers going online every day, a new forecast from Bloomberg's NEF research firm (BNEF) is now predicting that in the United States, data centers are on track to consume 20% of the nation's power and electricity by 2035. Right now, it's estimated that data centers are consuming around 5.9% of electricity in the country, so data center power use is expected to almost triple within the next decade.

In terms of raw power, 20% of the country's electricity in 2035 equates to around 194 gigawatts. A massive figure, but also one that is 83% higher than a previous forecast issued last year. And to make matters worse, the report notes that even with power grid expansion currently happening at a record pace, there would be a power shortfall of almost 20 gigawatts.

The reason for the sharp increase comes down to the sheer number of new data centers and AI facilities entering the production and construction phase. The BNEF research firm isn't alone, as other organizations, like the non-profit EPRI, have also doubled their predictions in recent months for electricity demand from the AI and data center market. Interestingly, the BNEF is also forecasting that in terms of the power requirement for AI training and inference, the United States will account for 64% of the world's AI chip power demand by 2033.

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Question #1

How does the BNEF forecast quantify US data center electricity use by 2035 compared to today?

Question #2

What total power in gigawatts does the article say 20% of US electricity represents in 2035?

Question #3

How do other organizations’ forecasts (like EPRI and Gartner) compare with BNEF’s predictions mentioned in the article?

Question #4

By what percentage is global data center energy use forecast to grow in 2026 according to Gartner, as cited in the article?

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That's not to say that the world will sit there watching, as researchers at Gartner are forecasting that in 2026, global data center energy use will grow by 26%. Going back to the 20% by 2035 figure for the U.S., this equates to one in five energy units (whether that's coal, gas, or solar) going to data centers.