By 2035, data centers will account for approximately 20% of U.S. electricity consumption, becoming the next bottleneck for AI.

BlockBeats reported that on July 25, the electricity demand of U.S. data centers is expected to surge by 253% from 2026 levels, reaching a record 194 gigawatts by 2035, with 1 gigawatt roughly equivalent to the capacity of a traditional nuclear reactor. Currently, data centers consume 6% of U.S. electricity annually. By 2030, they are expected to consume about 12% of U.S. electricity, and by 2035, data centers will account for about 20% of U.S. electricity consumption.

The growth in U.S. electricity consumption is mostly concentrated in a few regional grids, such as the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection (PJM), which serves the District of Columbia and 13 states including Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Electricity will be the next bottleneck for AI.