India, June 12 -- Artificial intelligence is pushing data centres into a new phase of growth. But behind the rapid expansion of AI workloads, a major challenge is emerging: electricity. According to the Gartner data centre electricity forecast, global data centre electricity consumption is expected to grow 26% in 2026, reaching 565 terawatt hours (TWh), up from 447 TWh in 2025.

The shift highlights how AI adoption is changing the way enterprises think about infrastructure. Computing power is increasing, but energy availability is becoming a key factor in scaling future AI environments.

Gartner points to compute-intensive AI workloads as the main reason behind rising data centre electricity consumption. Global data centre power demand is...