The Rising Electricity Requirements of AI Data Centers' Will Make A Lasting Impact on Utility Costs Across The Commercial Real Estate Sector

With AI in the early stages of a technology super-cycle, one theme is becoming crystal clear: the buildout of hyperscaler data centers to support AI hinges on access to an abundant and stable electricity supply.

While datacenters aren't the only driver of rising electricity demand and costs - there are many drivers - their need for massive power is already reshaping energy infrastructure supply chains and electricity markets.

In short (no pun intended), electricity requirements have become the chief bottleneck of the AI revolution. As Microsoft CEO, Saya Nadella, and many others have voiced, datacenter structures can be constructed more quickly than they can be put in operational use, since the power needed to run then just isn't available.

AI Is Reshaping Commercial Energy Usage And Prices

This growth in electricity demand is already reshaping the U.S. electricity market, especially across the commercial sector, within which data centers are categorized. And the ripple effects are just beginning, since few predicted just a few years back that AI would get this big, this quickly, and require as much electricity as it does.

Datacenters fall under the commercial classification, and the rise of AI is rapidly reshaping which commercial activities consume the most electricity.

According to projections from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), computing is on track to become the largest single use of electricity in the commercial sector by 2050; surpassing refrigeration, lighting and even HVAC systems.A

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