Data Centers Burned More Power in 2022 Than 185 of the World’s 195 Countries.

And this is forecast to rise to 190 by 2026

Fig 1: Data centers global share of energy consumption will grow from being the 11^th biggest electricity consumer in 2022 to the 6^th biggest in 2026.*

Data Center Consumption

According to 2024 data from the International Energy Agency (IEA), data centers consumed 470 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2022. And this is set to grow significantly, potentially doubling in the four years to 2026, reaching 1,000 TWh.

To put this figure in context, country-by-country energy consumption breakdowns by the Energy Institute suggests this 2022 data center consumption is ahead of all European countries, and behind just 9 in total. By 2026, extrapolations from these datasets suggest data centers will consume more electricity than all countries bar (respectively) Japan, Russia, India, the US and China.

Share of Renewable Energy

IEA and Energy Institute data also suggests that soon after 2026, the first industrialized countries will begin to see data center consumption approach parity with renewable energy production.

Extrapolations suggest one of the first countries to reach this point may be Ireland, which (based on current growth) will see data centers in the country consume approximately three quarters (74.23%) of all carbon-free electricity produced in 2026 based on current trends - up from 41% in 2022.

This conclusion is also reached by Bloomberg with its analysis to 2034 suggesting Ireland will be one of just three countries whose data centers consume more than 100% of it carbon-free energy - with a data center consumption to renewable energy ratio that is behind only Saudi Arabia.

Fig 2: Irish data center power consumption 2022 and 2026

Reducing power in data centers

This forecast growth in consumption comes despite the improving efficiencies of the most advanced AI processors, for example NVIDIA's DGX B100 & B200 (Blackwell) will run at an efficiency of just 0.2 kW per petaflops.

Fig 3: AI servers are becoming significantly more efficient, but the rise of AI usage requires greater power densities to be delivered

The need to ensure every component in the data center be as efficient as possible is therefore critical. This notably includes the next two big consumers: cooling and power supplies. Advances in PSUs also play a critical role in ensuring data centers are able to migrate to these newer, more efficient processors. For example, an analysis of Blackwell architectures by AMAX suggests there is a "readiness gap" that will create a "two-tier" data center ecosystem.

In particular, AMAX notes Blackwell configurations will require a level of power that currently more than 95 percent of the world's data centers are unable to support​​, and PSUs for AI data centers need to significantly improve power density in order to deliver this.

Advances in PSUs

With silicon at its physical limits, PSU makers are turning to silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), which enable far higher switching frequencies, efficiencies and power densities, as well as improved thermal properties.

Navitas's roadmap will enable a 3X increase in power densities in less than 18 months (August 2023 to December 2024), with the launch of an 8.5 kW CRPS PSU with an efficiency of 98% in November 2024, and its 4.5 kW PSU reference design, announced earlier this year, delivers the world's highest power density of any CRPS PSU: 137 W/in³.

Additionally, Navitas released it's patented digital control optimized for AI data center power supplies which enables PFC peak efficiencies to 99.3% and reduce power losses by 30% compared to existing solutions.

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Notes:

- For this blog, we have used the UN list of 193 member states plus the of the United Nations and 2 countries that are non-member observer states: the Holy See and the State of Palestine.

- Figure 1:

Source of country data to 2023 and linear extrapolations to 2026: Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy, 2024

Source of data center energy consumption growth 2019 to 2022 and forecast growth to 2026: International Energy Agency Global Energy Trends Report, 2024

- Figure 3:

Figures quoted are per server, not per processor.

Data source: Goldman Sachs

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