Global data-center electricity demand surged significantly over the past year, with worldwide consumption reaching 787.8 terawatt-hours in 2025, up from 658.2 TWh in 2024, according to the Energy Institute’s 2026 Statistical Review of World Energy. This represents nearly a 20% annual increase and marks the first time the statistical review has tracked global data-center electricity consumption in its 75-year history. Over a five-year period since 2020, data-center electricity use has nearly doubled, growing approximately 92% with an average annual growth rate of roughly 14%.
The United States has emerged as the dominant driver of this expansion, consuming an estimated 312.6 TWh in 2025, representing approximately 40% of global data-center electricity demand. China ranked second with 205.7 TWh at roughly 26% of global consumption, while Europe accounted for about 18%. Notably, U.S. consumption increased by 25.5% in 2025 alone, and the country has accounted for roughly half of all global data-center electricity growth over the past year. Since 2020, U.S. data-center electricity consumption has risen approximately 81%.
This concentration of growth in the United States presents particular challenges for the nation’s electrical infrastructure. After decades of minimal demand growth, U.S. electricity consumption has increased at an average annual rate of about 1.7% since 2020, with data centers identified as a major driver. Virginia exemplifies the impact, with commercial electricity sales increasing by nearly 30 million megawatt-hours between 2019 and 2025 due largely to the state’s concentration of data centers. Grid operators project continued acceleration, with the Dominion portion of the PJM grid expecting summer peak demand to grow at an average annual rate of 5.4% over the coming decade.
The rapid growth is straining existing grid infrastructure, with transmission congestion costs in PJM jumping 43% during the first half of 2026 to $6 billion. Forecasts project continued expansion, with global data-center electricity demand potentially reaching approximately 1,550 TWh by 2030, nearly double the 2025 level. U.S. estimates suggest data centers could consume between 6.7% and 12% of national electricity by 2028, compared to roughly 4.4% in 2023. This expansion creates urgent challenges for generation capacity, transmission infrastructure, and power supply reliability that may increasingly constrain the technology industry’s expansion plans.
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