New research from the International Data Center Association (IDCA) shows data centers now consume 6% of electricity in both the UK and US, with global investment in these facilities approaching $1 trillion annually—nearly 1% of the world economy. The finding raises hard questions about grid capacity, latency in power delivery, and the hidden costs of AI workloads.

Worldwide data center power demand has climbed 15% over the past two years. In the UK, where the government previously estimated 2.5% consumption, the queue for grid connections grew 460% in the first half of 2025. Developers report multi-year waits just to get plugged in. The IDCA warns that once a country's data center footprint hits 5% of national grid consumption, community and political opposition intensifies.

Singapore and Lithuania are already feeling the strain more acutely, with data centers using 19% and 11% of their grids respectively. The IDCA also flags a surprising inefficiency: 13% of US data center consumption comes from “zombie” services—apps that run but serve no active user, wasting over 3 GW.

Greenpeace UK has called for mandatory environmental impact assessments and a ban on new fossil-fuel plants built to power AI. The group’s chief scientist, Doug Parr, urged a pause before “tech billionaires whose profits depend on this expansion” lock in long-term energy commitments.

On the security front, the IDCA notes that physical breaches of data centers in the Middle East have forced operators to treat physical and cyber security as a single, unified strategy. With roughly 10,000 facilities worldwide—including Microsoft’s 1.2 million sq ft Mount Pleasant site in Wisconsin—the architecture of power, cooling, and security is no longer just an ops concern; it’s a first-order constraint on AI growth.

Source: The Guardian