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Energy Infrastructure is Powering the Future of Artificial Intelligence
The convergence of AI with energy and technology infrastructure is reshaping industries. The demand for low-cost, reliable, and secure energy supply is intensifying, driven by the burgeoning requirements of AI infrastructure and the need for advanced hardware like semiconductors.
Learn how the energy infrastructure sector, particularly natural gas, is equipped to meet the challenge of AI’s increasing electricity demands.
Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Value Chain
- Data centers are buildings that house the physical infrastructure necessary to store digital data and operate complex computing applications like cloud computing
- Data centers are the backbone of AI infrastructure, providing the critical resources necessary for deploying complex models and algorithms.
- In the next five years, consumers and businesses are expected to generate twice as much data as all the data created over the past 10 years.
AI is Boosting Electricity Demand
- The proliferation of data centers underscores the expansion of digital infrastructure to support cloud services, big data processing, and AI, driving up electricity consumption.
- AI technology advancements, particularly the integration of GPUs into CPUs for efficient parallel processing, contribute to higher performance but also escalate power consumption, exemplified by newer GPUs like Nvidia's H100 consuming 700 watts, impacting data center electricity use.
Data Center Power Consumption by Provider (in gigawatts)
Source: McKinsey & Company Investing in the rising data center economy January 2023. Projections on this page are shown for informational purposes only and no guarantee of future outcomes.
AI Boom is a Catalyst for Natural Gas
The power requirements of the AI boom present new growth opportunities for the natural gas industry:
- Production Increase: U.S. natural gas production could rise by up to 30% by 2030 to meet AI-driven electricity demands.
- Infrastructure Expansion: Expanding pipelines and storage capacities is essential for the safe and cost-effective distribution of
natural gas.
Source: EIA and Tortoise estimates. Projections on this page are shown for informational purposes only and no guarantee of future outcomes.
