Data centres used about 1.5% of the world's electricity in 2025; AI-focused ones about 0.5%
Data centres used about 485 TWh in 2025, up 17% in a year, the IEA estimates. It expects about 950 TWh, around 3% of world demand, by 2030.
Data centres are still a small part of the world’s electricity use, but a fast-growing one, and they are bunched in a few places.
The IEA’s April 2026 report estimates data centres used about 485 TWh of electricity in 2025 (a terawatt-hour is a billion kilowatt-hours). That is around 1.5% of global demand, up 17% in a year. AI-focused data centres used about 155 TWh, roughly 0.5%, and their demand grew 50%. In the IEA’s base case, data centres reach about 950 TWh by 2030: around 3% of global demand and slightly under 10% of the growth in demand.
Locally the share is much higher. Where data centres cluster they are 20–30% of electricity demand: over a quarter in Virginia and over 20% in Ireland, against about 5% across the US. LBNL estimates US data centres used 192 TWh in 2024 (4.7% of US electricity), with a 2030 reference case of 649 TWh (11.8%). The IEA projects data-centre emissions roughly doubling to about 350 Mt CO₂ by 2035, still about 2% of emissions from electricity.
What it means
Worldwide, data centres, and AI ones in particular, use a small share of electricity today, though it is growing quickly. The effects people feel are local: in places like Virginia and Ireland, data centres already take more than a fifth of the power. Projections to 2030 are uncertain, so read them as a direction, not a promise.
Caveats
- Projections are highly uncertain, and the IEA notes data are patchy.
- “AI-focused” is a type of facility, not a direct measurement of AI work.
- IEA figures exclude crypto mining; including it gives about 790 TWh (~2.5%) for 2025.