Building up the US power grid won't be wasted, even if the AI bubble bursts
The bigger risk is underinvestment, claims consulting biz McKinsey
US power companies must decide how much capacity to build for soaring datacenter demand, knowing that some planned facilities may never materialize and the AI bubble could deflate. Consulting firm McKinsey & Company says the greater near-term risk is building too little.
Driven by the AI craze, a boom in datacenter building is expected to see the energy consumed by these facilities grow by 26 percent this year, as The Register reported not too long ago.
McKinsey's own figures indicate that datacenters will account for about 75 percent of projected US power demand growth over the next decade. The current building rate would require the equivalent of almost 30 GW of additional power each year, including roughly 20 GW for IT equipment and the rest for cooling, distribution and resilience.
Whether that growth materializes depends on demand for AI compute...
Copyright of this story solely belongs to theregister.com. To see the full text click HERE
