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AI DATA CENTERS LEASE RECORD ELECTRICAL POWER IN Q2

The word "hyperscaler" has entered the lexicon, and is tossed around like a Frisbee anytime investors talk about the massive expenditures on data centers (DC) in order to power the nascent technology of AI.

TD Cowen published a note on Thursday looking at the current and near-term power requirements of these huge, power-thirsty facilities in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

In the second quarter, Meta META.O, Microsoft MSFT.O and Alphabet GOOGL.O leased a record 9.6 gigawatts just to flip on the lights, switch on the computers and cooling systems and everything else needed to keep these centers up and running, according to a research team led by Michael Elias.

For context, a typical large-scale nuclear reactor has a power output of about 1 GW. New York City requires about 2 GW to power its lights, air conditioners and 665 miles of subway track.

Looking ahead, TD Cowen sees about 12.5 GW DC leasing demand in the pipeline.

This massive build-out also happens to be coinciding with surging energy demand related to record-setting heatwaves.

Power grids across Europe have been struggling to meet that demand in recent weeks, at times enforcing conservation.

On July 3, the largest U.S. power grid, PJM, announced it is no longer able to provide expected energy requirements.

So where do these data centers expect to get those 12.5 gigawatts of juice?

(Stephen Culp)

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