Tech’s Energy Demand Is Reshaping Supply
The technology sector is increasingly not only a major consumer of electricity but also a key driver in the development of new sources of supply. With the boom in data centers and artificial intelligence, technology companies have become a major purchaser of renewable energy. By 2025, technology firms are predicted to be responsible for 40% of corporate purchases of electricity from renewables, underscoring the increasing importance of the tech sector as a buyer of sustainable electricity.
Data centers are powering a new great power rivalry
Global electricity consumption by data centers jumped 17 percent in 2025 and 50 percent in the case of data centers used for artificial intelligence (AI). Meanwhile, data center operators are snapping up renewable PPAs and seeking out new sources of firm power to meet surging electricity needs.
This trend is also driving the development of other technologies. The IEA says tech companies are buying up nuclear and advanced geothermal technologies at an unprecedented rate. Conditional offtake agreements between data center operators and small modular reactor projects have soared by 25 GW by the end of 2024, totalling 45 GW, pointing to the impact the growth of the digital sector will have on the whole system.
