IEA updates its outlook: data centres at 950 TWh in 2030, AI-focused ones triple

2026-04-16 · Publisher : Agence internationale de l'énergie · Domain : Cloud & DevOps

In Key Questions on Energy and AI, the IEA estimates data centre electricity consumption will go from 485 TWh in 2025 to 950 TWh in 2030, with AI-focused centres tripling.

### Background On 16 April 2026, the IEA publishes **Key Questions on Energy and AI**, a report updating its April 2025 analysis. It estimates data centre electricity consumption will **roughly double from 485 TWh in 2025 to 950 TWh in 2030**, around 3% of global demand. AI-focused data centres will triple over the period. Bottlenecks along the value chain reduce the likelihood of the most aggressive near-term scenarios. ### Key facts - Central projection: 485 TWh in 2025, 950 TWh in 2030, about 3% of global electricity demand. - Investment: capital expenditure of five large technology companies exceeded USD 400 billion in 2025 and is expected to rise 75% in 2026. - Capacity: "AI factories" more than tripled in capacity in 18 months, according to the IEA's satellite tracking. - Efficiency: energy per AI task falls by at least an order of magnitude a year, but video, reasoning and agentic uses consume hundreds to thousands of times more per query than a simple text query. - Scope: the report also covers innovations in powering data centres, energy security and price affordability. ### Why it matters The central projection stays close to 2025's: the IEA does not raise its trajectory, but underlines the tension between efficiency gains and new power-hungry uses. For IT departments, two consequences: energy cost per query falls, but the overall bill depends on the type of use. The report is a basis to discuss energy efficiency and footprint with providers. ### Takeaway The IEA confirms its trajectory: about 950 TWh in 2030, with bottlenecks slowing the near term.

Tags : Datacenter, Énergie, IA, GreenOps