AI and the future of energy-efficient data centers

By Sanjeev Kumar Chauhan, Technical Director, Array Networks 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming businesses and service delivery at an unprecedented speed. Powering this digital revolution are data centers that form the critical infrastructure driving innovation from chatbots, recommendation engines, to predictive models. As AI adoption grows exponentially, so does the energy needed to power these data centers. The challenge now is to build data centers that are not only faster but also greener and more energy efficient, because rapid AI growth and environmental responsibility must go hand in hand.

The Energy Challenge: A Growing Concern

At the moment, the scale of the energy challenge is significant. According to recent studies, the global electricity consumption by data centers, AI workloads, and cryptocurrencies will more than double, reaching about 1,000 terawatt-hours annually by 2026. To put this into perspective, this is roughly equivalent to Japan’s total electricity ...