Key Highlights
- Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
- Bitcoin mining consumed around 171 TWh in 2025, representing 16% of total data center energy use. All traditional data centers worldwide consumed between 448 and 1,050 TWh in 2025, with estimates varying across analysts' data.
- Gartner has it at 448 TWh, while Socomec and the IEA cite a range between 600 and 1050 TWh. Gartner projections suggest this will reach 980 TWh by 2030, but IEA data also proposes we'll break the 1,000 TWh landmark this year (if we haven't already). AI-focused facilities are officially estimated to have consumed between 82 and 536 TWh in 2025, accounting for 11-40% of all data center energy usage.
- The wide range is driven by the speed of AI deployment and the difficulty of tracking exact usage data. Therefore, traditional data centers, including cloud computing, enterprise applications, streaming, and social media, certainly accounted for north of 388 TWh in 2025.2025 metricRange (TWh)Average used (TWh)NotesAll data centers (ex BTC)448–1,050800Conservative working average for analysisAI-focused data centers (derived from total)88–536350MidpointTraditional / non-AI data centers (derived)388–712450Total minus AI (800 − 350)Bitcoin mining (electricity use)138–204171Range spans Cambridge estimate (~138) to Digiconomist annualized estimate (~204)Gartner states,“In 2025, AI-optimized servers are projected to represent 21% of total center power usage and 44% by 2030.
- In 2030, they will represent 64% of the incremental power demand for data centers.”While Socomec states,“Data centers will consume approximately 536 TWh of electricity in 2025, representing about 2% of global electricity consumption.
