Bloomberg Projects US Data Center Power Demand to Quadruple by 2035
A Bloomberg NEF report projects that US data center electricity consumption will quadruple by 2035, accounting for 20% of the nation's total power generation. This surge is driven primarily by the rapid expansion of AI workloads, with the US expected to host 64% of global AI chips by 2033. The massive energy demand poses a severe threat to grid reliability and is driving up electricity prices, highlighting a critical infrastructure bottleneck for AI scaling. Grid operators like PJM Interconnection are already struggling to process connection requests, leading to rising costs for consumers. Data center capacity in the US is expected to expand to nearly 200 GW over the next decade, with regional grids like PJM and ERCOT projected to allocate 34% and 22% of their power capacity to data centers, respectively. Globally, data centers could add 1,935 TWh of electricity demand by 2033, roughly equivalent to India's annual consumption.
## BACKGROUND
PJM Interconnection is the largest regional transmission organization (RTO) in the United States, coordinating the movement of wholesale electricity across 13 states and Washington, D.C. To ensure grid reliability, PJM holds capacity auctions to secure future power supply, but surging demand from data centers combined with the retirement of older power plants has recently sent auction prices soaring.