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AI Boom Puts Pressure on China’s Power Grid as Data Centers Eat Up Electricity

Published: Mar. 22, 2025  2:55 a.m.  GMT+8
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China’s data centers consumed 140 billion kWh in 2024.
China’s data centers consumed 140 billion kWh in 2024.

China’s rapidly expanding artificial intelligence (AI) industry is eating up electricity at an alarming rate — a factor analysts say could disrupt the country’s power grid if infrastructure doesn’t keep pace.

By 2035, China’s data centers will consume 400 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity a year — around four times their 2024 usage, Bloomberg analyst Lv Jinghong estimated at the BloombergNEF Summit in Beijing Thursday. That will account for 3.2% of national power consumption, comparable to the entire electricity usage of Sichuan province.

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  • China's AI industry is significantly increasing electricity consumption, with data centers expected to use 400 billion kWh by 2035, representing 3.2% of national power usage.
  • The increase in energy use is driven by AI model training and cooling systems, with PUE improving from 1.7 in 2016 to 1.48 in 2023.
  • Green initiatives and site selection changes, like East-data-West-computing, aim to support power needs sustainably, though most centers still depend on purchased green power.
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What Happened When
2022:
China's East-data-West-computing initiative was launched to redirect data center development to regions with cooler climates and abundant wind and solar energy.
2023:
The average Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) in China was reduced to 1.48.
As of 2024:
China's data centers consumed 140 billion kWh, representing about 1.4% of total electricity usage.
November 2024:
Tencent Holdings Ltd. launched China's first integrated wind-solar-storage microgrid data center in Hebei province.
December 2024:
China Unicom began construction on a green microgrid project in Qinghai province.
March 18, 2025:
Five agencies released new guidelines calling for further increases in green power usage at data center hubs.
AI generated, for reference only
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