Goldman Sachs A recent report states that the United States is at the forefront of artificial intelligence. The biggest obstacle in the field of AI is not chips, rare earth elements, or talent, but electricity.
With the rapid development of AI and data centers The surge has overwhelmed the U.S. power grid, and these large facilities now account for about 6% of total U.S. electricity consumption.
Goldman Sachs analysts predict that data centers may nearly double to 11% of electricity consumption by 2030, pushing parts of the U.S. power grid beyond critical load limits.
"With the surge in electricity demand from AI, a reliable and sufficient power supply could be a key factor in determining the outcome of this competition, especially given that bottlenecks in power infrastructure are often difficult to resolve quickly," the analyst wrote.
This issue could slow the U.S. lead in the AI technology race. The U.S. currently leads the world in AI infrastructure, possessing 44% of global data center capacity, roughly equivalent to the combined total of China, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, and India.
However, U.S. electricity The market is becoming increasingly tight. Due to increased demand from data centers, the U.S.'s backup power generation capacity for the summer peak electricity demand period has fallen from 26% to 19% over the past five years.
Goldman Sachs stated that if AI continues to develop at the current pace, by 2030, the aforementioned backup power generation capacity could fall below the "severely strained" warning line of 15%.
Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs points out that China is quietly stockpiling energy while the U.S. power grid is under pressure.
Goldman Sachs predicts that by 2030, China’s effective backup power generation capacity will reach approximately 400 gigawatts—more than three times the total expected electricity consumption of global data centers.
"We expect China's reserve power to be sufficient to meet the growing power demand from data centers, as well as the power needs of other industries," the analyst wrote.
“A reliable and sufficient power supply could be the key to winning this competition, especially given that power infrastructure bottlenecks are difficult to resolve quickly,” Goldman Sachs said.
It's worth mentioning that earlier this month, Nvidia... CEO Jensen Huang also mentioned that energy issues could hinder the development of AI in the United States.
(Article source: CLS)
