U.S. data center power use to surge as AI and crypto drive demand

U.S. data centers are projected to increase their share of the nation’s electricity consumption from about 5.9% currently to 20%, or 106 GW, by 2035 as demand from AI and cryptocurrency mining surges, BloombergNEF said, according to Crypto Briefing. BloombergNEF expects Bitcoin mining companies to use their large-scale power infrastructure to work with major technology companies such as CoreWeave in converting facilities into AI-focused data centers, with 20% of mining capacity likely to be repurposed for AI use by 2027.